Sustainability
The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) has called on the European Union to work with the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) to improve the alignment of key concepts, terminologies and metrics in new mandatory EU sustainability reporting standards with the ISSB model. IFAC wants ISSB standards to be a ‘comprehensive global baseline of sustainability disclosures’. While it has welcomed efforts to dovetail European Sustainability Reporting Standards with ISSB standards, IFAC said: ‘Substantive differences remain, so collaboration must continue’ to ensure ‘interoperable ESRS and ISSB standards’.
The IFRS Foundation has published a comparison of IFRS S2 Climate-related disclosures and recommendations from the Task force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). The requirements in IFRS S2 are consistent with the four core recommendations and eleven recommended disclosures published by the TCFD. The Financial Stability Board has announced that the work of the TCFD has been completed.
Meanwhile the IFRS Foundation has released Chinese, French, Japanese and Spanish translations of two ISSB consultations relating to taxonomy and agenda priorities.
Revenue
The IASB is seeking feedback for a post-implementation review of the IFRS 15 accounting standard on revenue from contracts with customers, which measures and forecasts revenue.
SMPs
IFAC has released the second instalment in a three-part publication series to help small and medium-sized practices (SMPs) implement the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) quality management standards. It Includes documentation aids covering independence, acceptance and continuance of clients and engagements, resources and outside consultation, plus engagement quality review checklists.
Assurance
The IAASB has approved a draft International Standard on Sustainability Assurance (ISSA) 5000, General Requirements for Sustainability Assurance Engagements, for public consultation, which will be staged until December 2023. ISSA 5000 will be a ‘comprehensive, standalone standard suitable for limited and reasonable sustainability assurance engagements’, said the IAASB. The standard will apply to sustainability information reported across any sustainability topic, prepared under multiple frameworks by accountants and other professionals.
Ethics
Accountants have been asked to apply to join a new Stakeholder Advisory Council that will provide strategic advice to both the IAASB and the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA) in developing standards. Recruitment is being handled by the standard-setting nominations committee of the Public Interest Oversight Board (PIOB).
Meanwhile IESBA is establishing a Sustainability Reference Group to support the work of its Sustainability Task Force. The new group will provide insights, expertise and advice on the development of global ethics and independence standards for sustainability reporting and assurance.
And finally, advice on technology-related provisions of the International Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants (including international independence standards) has been developed and released by IESBA and the Australian Accounting Professional & Ethical Standards Board. The guidance includes coverage of how technology-related non-assurance services should apply the independence requirements of the code.
Tax base
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is launching further work on developing rules for the redistribution of multinational tax liability under its Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project. The work will address the challenges faced by low-capacity jurisdictions in applying transfer pricing rules. It will be subject to public consultation until 1 September 2023 and should be completed by the year-end.
Risk management
The International Organization of Securities Commissions (Iosco) has released advice on anti-dilution liquidity management tools for collective investment schemes. Iosco is supporting greater and more consistent use of anti-dilution tools to protect investor value.
More information
To learn more about the new sustainability standards published by the ISSB, read AB articles Time to prepare for S1 and S2, IFRS 2 about to drop, and Sustainability standards published
