To continue the dialogue on corporate reporting and value creation, IFAC has posted a summary of its feedback on the recent World Economic Forum (WEF) consultation “Toward Common Metrics and Consistent Reporting of Sustainable Value Creation.”

It is well acknowledged by investors, business leaders, and other stakeholders that, in addition to financials, effective corporate reporting must also measure value creation, sustainability and environmental, social, and governance factors. Such enhanced corporate reporting is needed to maintain confidence in companies and financial markets, to better meet stakeholder needs, and to inform business planning for long-term success.

The WEF consultation makes a valuable contribution in the dialogue amongst all stakeholders who share a common interest in relevant, reliable, and comparable reporting of this information.

In its consultation response, IFAC focuses on six takeaways to keep the global conversation moving forward:

• Rationalization efforts must work toward a global system. IFAC strongly supports a global approach to ESG metrics and disclosures.
• Timeliness is key. Alignment, harmonization, and convergence must take place before regional or jurisdiction-specific initiatives become standard practice.
• Take a modular approach. Build upon existing high-quality metrics and disclosures.
• There is a role for both standards and frameworks. For example, the Integrated Reporting Framework.
• Assurance is needed to deliver confidence in corporate reporting.  Assurance is most effective when applied against metrics and disclosures that follow clear best practices or standards.  
• The accounting profession must remain engaged in the conversation. The profession is critical to evidence-based decision making, reliable information gathering, and consistent, comparable corporate reporting—be it ESG-focused or otherwise. 

IFAC stands ready, as a global voice and convener of the accountancy profession, to facilitate coordination, assimilation, and convergence in sustainable reporting approaches. IFAC supports the WEF consultation as a catalyst to challenge policy makers, regulators, and ESG metric providers to get the job done, now. 

Ongoing and active engagement by the profession—through this initiative and by assisting companies in the implementation of its metrics and disclosures—is an enormous opportunity for the profession to embrace.

DOWNLOAD THE ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES HERE

The IAASB's International Standard on Auditing (ISA) 540 (Revised) Implementation Working Group has prepared illustrative examples for auditing simple and complex accounting estimates. The examples are designed to illustrate how an auditor could address certain requirements of ISA 540 (Revised), and have been developed to assist the auditor in understanding how ISA 540 (Revised) may be applied to:

•  Simple Accounting Estimate – Provision on Inventory Impairment
• Complex Accounting Estimate – Provision on Property, Plant and Equipment Impairment

The examples illustrate accounting estimates with varying characteristics and degrees of complexity. Each example illustrates a selection of requirements from ISA 540 (Revised). Not all requirements are addressed in each example, nor do they cover all parts of those requirements that have been selected. The requirements selected across each example vary to illustrate different aspects of ISA 540 (Revised) and to focus on those requirements that are most relevant to the example.

These examples are intended to be read together with ISA 540 (Revised). This will demonstrate how an auditor’s work effort, to comply with the requirements of ISA 540 (Revised), may be scaled down and scaled up when auditing simple and complex accounting estimates.

Click here for for more information and to view the illustrative examples. 

These examples do not constitute an authoritative pronouncement of the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB), nor do they amend, extend or override the ISAs or other of the IAASB’s International Standards. It is not meant to be exhaustive and reading these examples is not a substitute for reading the ISAs.

Additional illustrative examples are being developed to illustrate how an auditor may address the requirements of ISA 540 (Revised) in the context of more complex accounting estimates such as those relating to expected credit losses, and will be released in due course.

The IAASB invites you to join its webinar covering the previously released Public Consultation on Proposed Guidance: Extended External Reporting (EER) Assurance. The Consultation Paper is open for comment until July 13, 2020.

The webinar will be held on June 10, 2020 from 7am – 8.30am EDT

In this 90-minute webinar Lyn Provost, IAASB Member and Chair of the EER Task Force, will explain:

• what is meant by Extended External Reporting (EER)
• how EER Assurance engagements provide protection for the public interest
• how the IAASB’s proposed EER Assurance Guidance seeks to serve the public interest by:
• providing practical guidance on particular challenges practitioners face in performing EER assurance engagements,
• promoting consistent high-quality application of ISAE 3000 (Revised) to these engagements, and
• enhancing trust in assurance reports and engendering greater user confidence and trust in the reliability of EER reports.

Time will be provided during this webinar to answer questions. The webinar is open to preparers and users (including investors) of EER reports, as well as to assurance practitioners and regulators.

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