Celine Chan is a Principal at the International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB). Since joining the IPSASB staff in 2022, she supported sustainability reporting technical projects and strategic initiatives to deliver the IPSASB work program and is currently leading the Climate-related Disclosures Standard Project.

Prior to joining the IPSASB, Celine was an AVP in Accounting Policy and Advisory at TD Bank where she led a team advising on transactions, business and intangible valuations, and retail banking under IFRS and U.S. GAAP. Celine started her accounting career in Deloitte Canada’s assurance practice specializing in financial institutions primarily based in Toronto, Canada as well as a secondment in North Carolina, United States and a volunteer position in Tanzania.

Celine also serves as a Board member of Homeless Connect Toronto, a registered Canadian charity that engages the local community and builds partnerships to contribute to solutions for overcoming homelessness in the city.

Celine is a Canadian Chartered Professional Accountant and holds a Bachelor of International Business Administration from the Schulich School of Business at York University in Toronto, Canada.

The International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB), developer of IPSAS®, international accrual-based accounting standards for the public sector, announced its new 2023 board members at its recent meeting in Portugal. The 2023 board will be a diverse, woman-majority group with members from around the world.

The new appointees to the IPSASB have been selected following a rigorous nominations and interview process involving the IFAC Nominating Committee and IPSASB leadership, overseen by the Public Interest Committee. The IFAC Board approved the recommended candidates.

The new Board members are:

• Mrs. Nor Yati Ahmad (Malaysia),
• Mr. Andrew van der Burgh (South Africa), and
• Mr. Jona Wala (Kenya).

The re-appointed Board members are:

• Dr. Kamira Muriel Sanchez Nicosia (Panama),
• Mr. Scott Showalter (USA), and
• Mrs. Patricia Siqueira Varela (Brazil).

“For the second year, the IPSASB will be a board comprising a majority of women for 2023,” said IPSASB Chair Ian Carruthers. “Diversity of Board membership is essential to ensure the delivery of high-quality standards that can strengthen public financial management globally. The appointment of new members from Africa and Asia will also be important to ensuring that our outputs meet the needs of an increasingly diverse group of users.”

The IPSASB also announced that Mr. Scott Showalter (USA) will assume the IPSASB Deputy Chair position for 2023. “I am extremely pleased that Scott has agreed to serve as my deputy. Scott brings a powerful combination of experience having served on the board since 2020 in addition to his experience as the former chair of Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board where he completed his 10-year term in June 2019,” said Mr. Carruthers. “I also want to take this opportunity to thank outgoing members Lindy Bodewig, the current Deputy Chair, Christopher Nyong, and Ajith Ratnayake for their many important contributions to our work during their time with the Board. We are extremely grateful for their dedication and commitment.”

About the IPSASB
The International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB) works to strengthen public financial management globally through developing and maintaining accrual-based International Public Sector Accounting Standards® (IPSAS®) and other high-quality financial reporting guidance for use by governments and other public sector entities. It also raises awareness of IPSAS and the benefits of accrual adoption. The Board receives support from the Asian Development Bank, the Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada, the New Zealand External Reporting Board, and the governments of Canada and New Zealand. The structures and processes that support the operations of the IPSASB are facilitated by the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC). For copyright, trademark, and permissions information, please go to permissions or contact permissions@ifac.org.

About the Public Interest Committee
The governance and standard-setting activities of the IPSASB are overseen by the Public Interest Committee (PIC), to ensure that they follow due process and reflect the public interest. The PIC is comprised of individuals with expertise in public sector or financial reporting, and professional engagement in organizations that have an interest in promoting high-quality and internationally comparable financial information.

In late 2020, the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) issued three new and revised quality management standards. The standards strengthen and modernize how a firm of any size or level of complexity approaches quality management. This document provides links to IFAC and IAASB materials that can help firms implement the new standards.

Visit IFAC's dedication quality management web page for additional information: www.ifac.org/qualitymanagement

IFAC and A4S hosted their Climate Week NYC event Finance Leaders Plugging the Net-Zero Information Gap: Exploring the critical role of CFOs and finance teams in the climate transition two weeks ago. The event brought together finance and accounting leaders to better understand how they're enabling their organization’s decarbonization strategies and transition planning and what obstacles they’re facing.

A recording of the event and takeaways are now available. 

“The task to decarbonizeeconomies is no mean feat,” said Kevin Dancey, IFAC CEO. “The quality of sustainability-related data and reporting processes must be improved to meet the demands of investors, regulators, and policy makers and the urgency of the climate crisis itself. Leveraging the skills of professional accountants to identify risks and opportunities and enhance climate-related information is an essential starting point.” 

Watch the recording and read the takeaways now.