The International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) has agreed to collaborate with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) to strengthen international assurance standards on sustainability reporting.

The collaboration supports WBCSD’s Redefining Value program and its objective to incorporate sustainability reporting within mainstream reporting, while ensuring external reporting follows the applicable IAASB international assurance standards (or their national equivalents). This consistency will champion the road to create greater alignment across reporting frameworks and build trust and confidence in sustainability reporting.

The WBCSD engaged IAASB as a key collaborator for this new project because it is the global standard setter for auditing and assurance standards.

Assurance of sustainability information continues to be an issue for preparers and assurance providers. Investors have consistently stated that assurance is important for building confidence in sustainability information in order for the information to be relevant and decision-useful. External assurance provides a critical role in building trust and confidence around sustainability information.

With support and funding from WBCSD, the IAASB approved a major new project to develop voluntary guidance on applying its existing assurance standards to emerging forms of external reporting (EER). EER goes beyond traditional financial reporting to include sustainability (or ESG) information and integrated reporting.

Recent publications by WBCSD and IAASB highlight the need to develop guidance on how EER assurance engagements are performing. This is because companies are at different stages of maturity in applying assurance and may face various barriers or challenges that they need help to overcome. WBCSD considers the independence of IAASB’s decision making to be a fundamental strength in supporting better EER assurance

Rodney Irwin, Managing Director of Redefining Value at WBCSD, said, “The scale of the challenges we face in moving towards a system that considers financial and non-financial information requires unprecedented collaboration. We have chosen to work with the IAASB because of their internationally renowned methods of setting the highest standards and encouraging companies/countries to adhere to them. We look forward to a working together towards an economy that values the true cost, true profit, true value of business.”

Work will begin in December 2017 and draft guidance on key challenges is expected to be published in Q4 2018.

Notes to Editors
This project is part of the Conservation and Financial Markets Initiative, a five-year effort of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation that aims to leverage the power of mainstream financial markets in order to help drive the food sector away from practices that degrade natural ecosystems.

About the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)
WBCSD is a global, CEO-led organization of over 200 leading businesses working together to accelerate the transition to a sustainable world. We help make our member companies more successful and sustainable by focusing on the maximum positive impact for shareholders, the environment and societies.

Our member companies come from all business sectors and all major economies, representing a combined revenue of more than $8.5 trillion and 19 million employees. Our global network of almost 70 national business councils gives our members unparalleled reach across the globe. WBCSD is uniquely positioned to work with member companies along and across value chains to deliver impactful business solutions to the most challenging sustainability issues.

Together, we are the leading voice of business for sustainability: united by our vision of a world where more than 9 billion people are all living well and within the boundaries of our planet, by 2050.

www.wbcsd.org
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About IAASB
The IAASB develops auditing and assurance standards and guidance for use by all professional accountants under a shared standard-setting process involving the Public Interest Oversight Board, which oversees the activities of the IAASB, and the IAASB Consultative Advisory Group, which provides public interest input into the development of the standards and guidance. The structures and processes that support the operations of the IAASB 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 Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation:
The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation fosters path-breaking scientific discovery, environmental conservation, patient care improvements and preservation of the special character of the Bay Area. Visit www.moore.org or follow @MooreFound. 

Highlights from the October 24-26 2017 meeting in New York, NY.

• 00:14 – Introduction: Matt Waldron, IAASB Technical Director
• 00:40 - Highlights: Arnold Schilder, IAASB Chair
• 03:09 – ISA 540 (Revised): Rich Sharko, IAASB Member
• 06:03 – ISA 315 (Revised): Fiona Campbell, IAASB Member
• 09:26 – IASB Liaison and Emerging Forms of External Reporting: Marek Grabowski, IAASB Member
• 15:16 - Closing Remarks: Matt Waldron, IAASB Technical Director

The International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB)’s Group Audits Task Force has issued a Project Update. The Project Update outlines the issues under consideration in the revised International Standard on Auditing (ISA) 600, Special Considerations‒Audits of Group Financial Statements, and other projects that address additional international standards. This includes: ISA 220, Quality Control for an Audit of Financial Statements, and International Standard on Quality Control (ISQC) 1, Quality Control for Firms that Perform Audits and Reviews of Financial Statements, and Other Assurance and Related Services Engagements. The Project Update also explains the linkages between these projects as they relate to group audit issues.

Key Takeaways

• ISA 600 deals with special considerations that apply in audits of group financial statements (group audits). Many of the requirements of ISA 600 are, therefore, drafted in the context of requirements in other standards. The IAASB recognizes that there is a strong linkage between the IAASB’s work to clarify and strengthen ISA 600 and the projects to revise other standards, in particular ISQC 1, ISA 220, and ISA 315 (Revised).
• Some foundational issues to be dealt with in the ISA 600 revisions need to be first considered and addressed in these other projects, i.e., such that the Group Audits Task Force can appropriately build on the revised requirements and application material in making necessary revisions to ISA 600.
• The Group Audits Task Force is working cooperatively with the task forces responsible for the revisions of ISQC 1, ISA 220, and ISA 315 (Revised) and providing input as proposed revisions to these standards progress. This interaction with the other task forces will enable the Group Audits Task Force to be well positioned to reflect the revisions to these other standards in the context of ISA 600, and provide the additional context of the special considerations relevant to their application to group audits.

Presentation by Isabelle Tracq-Sengeissen, International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) Agreed-Upon Procedures Working Group and ISA 315 Task Force member, at the FIDEF annual general meeting. In her presentation, Isabelle explained the international standard-setting process, including IAASB activity and due process; encouraged professional accountancy organizations in French-speaking countries to contribute to IAASB activities and respond to public consultations; and updated participants on current IAASB projects.