The Report, Ethics and Trust – Breaking New Groundincludes messages from IESBA’s Chairman and its Senior Technical Director and summarizes the Board’s accomplishments from June 1, 2016 to July 31, 2020. This includes:
Including Considerations for Involving Specialists in Audits of Financial Statements
This publication provides guidance to assist professional accountants in business and in public practice determine when there might be a need to use the services of a specialist to assist in performing specific tasks and other professional activities within their employing organizations, and in serving their clients in the COVID-19 environment. The publication also highlights relevant ethical considerations for accountants when thinking about using a specialist, as well as circumstances that indicate a need for a specialist during an audit of financial statements.
The purpose of these revisions to the Code are to better promote the role and mindset expected of all professional accountants.
The revisions explicitly recognize that the accountancy profession is entrusted with public confidence in the wide-ranging roles it plays in society and that such confidence is based on the skills and values it brings to its professional activities. Importantly, they reaffirm the profession’s responsibility to act in the public interest and the fundamental role of the Code in meeting that responsibility.
The International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA) Technology Group Phase One Report explores the ethical implications of technology on the accounting, assurance, and finance functions.
The Report is the culmination of work the global ethics standards setting board initiated in recognition of the pace and magnitude of change caused by disruptive technological innovations.
(a) Determine whether the restructuring of the Code through revising its structure and redrafting its provisions has achieved its intended purpose by identifying:
Developed in close coordination with the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB), the paper responds to calls from stakeholders as well as IESBA and IAASB members to recognize and clarify the linkages between the two.
The analysis explains, at a high level, how the FCG viewpoints and ISQM 1 could interact, demonstrating their mutually supportive nature while recognizing the clear distinctions in their objectives, scope, output, and level of specificity as regards firm culture and governance:
ISQM 1 requires firms that perform engagements within the scope of IAASB’s engagement standards to establish a system of quality management to enable the consistent performance of quality engagements and issuance of appropriate reports. It requires that the firm demonstrates a commitment to quality through a culture that exists throughout the firm, which recognizes and reinforces, among others, the importance of professional ethics, values, and attitudes.
The IESBA FCG viewpoints focus on how firms can develop a strong ethical culture by embedding and prioritizing ethical values within the whole firm through eight elements of firm culture and governance.
While this paper seeks to explain the linkages between the FCG viewpoints and ISQM 1, it does not purport to be a like-for-like assessment. ISQM 1 is a standard already in effect. By contrast, the IESBA FCG viewpoints represent high-level, principles-based perspectives on key elements of firm culture and governance developed to support stakeholder engagement on advancing the development of a global FCG framework. The FCG viewpoints do not constitute a standard.
The IESBA will continue outreach and consultation with stakeholders in the coming months, with a view to informing a Board decision on the approach to the development, structure, and authority of such a FCG framework.
About IESBA
The International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA) is an independent global standard-setting board. The IESBA’s mission is to serve the public interest by setting high-quality, international ethics (including independence) standards as a cornerstone to ethical behavior in business and organizations, and to public trust in financial and non-financial information that is fundamental to the proper functioning and sustainability of organizations, financial markets and economies worldwide.
Rui Peres Jorge
Director, Strategy and Communications
International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA)
ruiperesjorge@ethicsboard.org | Direct: +351 966-301-383
Zsolt Bobis
Lead, Communications
International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA)
zsoltbobis@ethicsboard.org
IESBA to analyze ethical and independence implications of private equity investment in accounting firms.
It will assess the need for standard setting on alternative practice structures.
In its March meeting, IESBA also agreed to develop new guidance on technology and AI, enhance its support for global implementation of the sustainability standards, and review the practical implementation of key ethics standards.
The International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA) has agreed to launch a dedicated workstream to analyze issues relating to private equity investment in accounting firms from an ethical perspective. The objective is to assess the need for standard setting addressing alternative practice structures (APS), including those involving private equity investment.
The newly launched workstream will gather information and undertake analysis to support the IESBA’s assessment of whether a formal standard setting project is needed to address ethical considerations related to APS around the world. An update on the Private Equity Investment workstream is expected to be presented to the IESBA at its June 2026 meeting.
The Board also agreed on several other priority actions at its March 2026 meeting, including:
Developing new non-authoritative guidance on technology and artificial intelligence to support professional accountants as the profession continues to evolve through technological transformations.
Concentrating on global implementation of the IESBA’s sustainability standards ahead of their effective date this December.
Issuing stakeholder surveys in early April to inform the post‑implementation review of the NOCLAR provisions and the Restructured Code, reinforcing the IESBA’s commitment to a comprehensive approach to standard-setting.
The International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA) is an independent global standard-setting board. The IESBA’s mission is to serve the public interest by setting high-quality, international ethics (including independence) standards as a cornerstone to ethical behavior in business and organizations, and to public trust in financial and non-financial information that is fundamental to the proper functioning and sustainability of organizations, financial markets and economies worldwide.
Rui Peres Jorge
Director, Strategy and Communications
International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA)
ruiperesjorge@ethicsboard.org | Direct: +351 966-301-383
Zsolt Bobis
Lead, Communications
International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA)
zsoltbobis@ethicsboard.org
