Supporting International Standards

Read our Global Status Report

We contribute to and promote the development, adoption, and implementation of high-quality international standards.

Transparent, high-quality international standards used by professional accountants are an essential pillar of the global financial architecture.

We champion international standards for audit and assurance, ethics and independence, education, and public sector accounting. These standards advance vital outcomes:

• Greater international consistency and ease of doing business
• Enhanced cross-border capital, financial flows, investments
• Greater financial stability; and
• Lower risks of regulatory arbitrage in corporate reporting.

Adoption and implementation of international standards

Adoption and implementation of international standards supports the provision of high-quality financial information to stakeholders, investors and the public, which results in greater economic growth, development and accountability.

While incredibly important to strong economies and financial markets, no international laws require nations to adopt and implement international standards. They are adopted because their quality, legitimacy, and impact are assured through active, purposeful consultation and a strong public-private partnership that stresses the public interest.

Stats on adopting international standards

In fact, with the support of IFAC and its member organizations, many jurisdictions have made progress adopting international standards and best practices. Across 130+ jurisdictions surveyed, in which 180+ member organizations operate:

• 98 percent of member jurisdictions have incorporated some requirements of the International Education Standards, and 21 percent have adopted them fully.
• 97 percent have established investigative and disciplinary systems.
• 95 percent have adopted International Financial Reporting Standards for all or most public interest entities.
• 93 percent have established quality assurance review systems.
• 62 percent have adopted International Standards on Auditing for all mandatory audits.
• 50 percent have adopted the latest International Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants for all professional accountants, and 46 percent are advancing adoption of the latest Code for all professional accountants in the jurisdiction.
• 14 percent of member jurisdictions have achieved adoption of accrual-basis International Public Sector Accounting Standards, and 47 percent are progressing in the adoption of or transition to accrual-basis IPSAS.

Developing highly-quality standards requires a robust standard-setting process, global consultation, and extensive oversight mechanisms.

The multi-stakeholder, shared public-private governance model under which the standards are developed ensures that the public interest remains the focus of standard setting, takes place without political or commercial interference, and includes checks and balances to ensure that no one stakeholder has undue influence.

We are continuing to ensure the profession is appropriately engaged in a shared public/private standard-setting model that yields widely adopted and implemented high-quality standards developed in the public interest.