For the accountancy profession to thrive, everyone has a role to play—from organizations creating the right conditions and leaders setting the tone, to individuals taking an active role in building the capabilities and practices that enable them and those around them to thrive.

New global principles launched today by the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) put this shared responsibility into practice. Thriving Together: 6 Principles for a Resilient Accountancy Profession provides organizations, leaders, and individuals with a practical framework for creating healthy and sustainable professional environments.

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The principles reflect growing recognition across the profession that wellbeing and professional capability are complementary. Supportive leadership, sustainable ways of working, opportunities for growth, and environments built on respect and trust all influence whether people can perform at their best over time—and whether they choose to build long-term careers in the profession.

“Building a strong profession is about both attracting talented people and creating an environment where they want to stay, grow, and do their best work,” said IFAC Chief Executive Officer Lee White. “Organizations thrive when their people thrive. These principles are about being proactive and building on what the profession is already doing well and continually asking how we can do better.”

The six principles call on the profession to:

• Support Fulfilling Careers
• Embed Sustainable Ways of Working
• Promote Balance through Healthy Boundaries and Prioritization
• Build Transparency and Trust
• Ensure All Levels of Leadership Set and Model Culture
• Empower Your People

Underpinning them is a shared responsibility: organizations create the environment and conditions for wellbeing; leaders at all levels shape expectations and culture; and individuals actively build and sustain practices that enable them to perform at their best.

The work builds on IFAC’s Opening Doors: Six Principles of Best Practice to Increase Access to Accountancy Qualifications, extending the focus from how the profession attracts and welcomes talent to the experience people have throughout their careers.

The principles were developed by IFAC in collaboration with the Global Public Policy Committee, human capital professionals, professional accountancy organizations, educators, professional accountants in business, small- and medium-sized practices, early career professionals, and firms from across the global profession. They are designed to be practical and flexible, recognizing that there is no single approach to wellbeing across different people, organizations, cultures, and jurisdictions. Rather than prescribing a single model, they provide a common foundation for organizations and individuals to assess where they are today and identify opportunities to improve.

Putting the Principles into Practice

To help put the principles into action, IFAC has built a digital hub featuring wellbeing-focused resources from across the global profession. IFAC will continue to build on Thriving Together, expanding the resources available to help organizations and individuals assess where they are today, facilitate conversations, and identify practical opportunities for improvement.

Thriving Together is intended as a starting point for continued progress—helping people build fulfilling careers, enabling organizations to sustain high performance, and strengthening the resilience of the profession for the future

Access the Principles

Read Thriving Together: 6 Principles for a Resilient Accountancy Profession.

About IFAC

IFAC, by connecting and uniting its members, makes the accountancy profession truly global. 

IFAC member organizations are champions of integrity and professional quality and proudly carry their membership as a badge of international recognition. 

IFAC and its members work together with the Forum of Firms and other key stakeholders to shape the future of the profession through learning, innovation, a collective voice, and commitment to the public interest.

In this eNews you will find:

• Highlights from our September meeting
• 2026 IAASB Handbook
• Audit Evidence and risk response proposals
• Our plans for Q4 2026
• Key dates for this quarter

Highlights from Our September Meeting

Topics we discussed at our September 2026 meeting included:

• Strategy and Work Plan 2028–2031 – We discussed the responses to the joint stakeholder survey that was published earlier this year with the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA). Survey responses will inform an IAASB consultation paper on the Strategies and Work Plan for 2028–2031, expected in early 2027.

• Technology Quality Management – We discussed drafts of the first two guides in the Technology Quality Management guide series. The first will be on common conceptual foundation and the second on firm-level quality management before deployment.

• ISA 500 Series (Project Stage: Exposure Draft Development) – We discussed the first full drafts of Proposed ISA 501 (Revised) as it relates to inventory, Proposed ISA 505 (Revised), External Confirmations, and significant proposed conforming and consequential amendments. 

• Post Implementation Review of ISA 540 (Revised), Auditing Accounting Estimates and Related Disclosures – We discussed responses to the online survey for the post-implementation review of ISA 540 (Revised) and the proposed direction for the way forward.

• Other Assurance Engagements – We discussed the initial findings from information-gathering activities, which will inform a final report and recommendations expected at our December 2026 meeting.

Recordings of the September 2026 meeting are available on our YouTube channel; more information on our projects can be found on the Latest on Our Projects web page.

2026 IAASB Handbook

The 2026 edition of our Handbook of International Quality Management, Auditing, Review, Sustainability and Other Assurance, and Related Services Pronouncements was released last week.

The following standards, which become effective in December 2026, are included in the 2026 Handbook:

• ISA 240 (Revised), The Auditor’s Responsibilities Relating to Fraud in an Audit of Financial Statements

• ISA 570 (Revised 2024), Going Concern

• ISSA 5000, General Requirements for Sustainability Assurance Engagements

• Narrow Scope Amendments resulting from revisions to the definitions of listed and public interest entities in the International Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants (including International Independence Standards), issued by the IESBA

• Narrow Scope Amendments to IAASB standards arising from the IESBA’s Using the Work of an External Expert project

Share Your Views on Our Audit Evidence and Risk Response Proposals

In early August, we opened a public consultation on proposed revisions to ISA 330, ISA 500, and ISA 520 to enhance the risk-based audit framework and address technological advances. Comments are requested by December 15, 2026. 

Building on recent revisions—including ISA 315 (Revised 2019)—the proposals further embed, clarify, and strengthen a principles-based, risk-based audit framework. They also address the increased use of technology in business, financial reporting, and auditing.

• Establish a comprehensive basis for auditors' judgments about audit evidence.

• Strengthen auditors' responses to assessed risks.

• Reinforce professional skepticism and professional judgment throughout the audit.

• Support innovation while remaining principles-based rather than technology-specific.

We have also developed a package of resources to support stakeholder, including:

• A user consultation survey, which offers users of financial statements a targeted way to provide feedback

• A two-part global webinar series on September 29–30 and October 5–7 in which we explore key aspects of the proposals and include live Q&A. Recordings of the webinars will be available in our YouTube channel after they air.

• A technical video series that takes a deeper look at key aspects of the proposed revisions.

• A slide deck to help stakeholders engage with their members and stakeholders on our proposed revisions.

• A supplemental table mapping key changes to the original project objectives.

Access all Exposure Drafts and related materials on the IAASB website: www.iaasb.org/AuditEvidence-RiskResponse 

Looking Ahead: Our Plans for Q4 2026

Technology Quality Management

We have been working on developing the non-authoritative guide series on applying the IAASB’s quality management standards to AI-enabled technological tools. Guide 1, Common Conceptual Foundation is anticipated in November, subject to approval at our October 28, 2026 mid-quarter meeting.

ISSA 5000 on Sustainability Assurance

As we continue supporting adoption and implementation of ISSA 5000, we are developing additional frequently asked questions (FAQ) and updating jurisdictional adoption information. In Q4 2026, we plan to release FAQs on general matters, including matters which were not addressed in other implementation guidance, and an IAASB-IESBA joint FAQ. Access resources on the dedicated ISSA 5000 web page.

Key Dates for this Quarter

• On October 20 and 21 our Stakeholder Advisory Council will meet in New York. You can find more information about this meeting on the October 2026 meeting web page. This meeting will be livestreamed on our YouTube channel. 

• On October 22, we will meet with our Jurisdictional Standard Setters.

• On October 28, the IAASB will have a virtual mid-quarter meeting in which we will discuss guide 1 of the Technology Quality Management guide series and Proposed ISA 501 (Revised) as it relates to inventory. The meeting agenda and meeting papers will be available on our October 2026 meeting web page approximately one week in advance of the meeting. This meeting will be livestreamed on our YouTube channel.

• From December 7 to 10, the IAASB will meet in Madrid. The meeting agenda and meeting papers will be available on our December 2026 meeting web page approximately two weeks in advance of the meeting. This meeting will be livestreamed on our YouTube channel.

These principles reflect growing recognition across the profession that wellbeing and professional capability are complementary. Supportive leadership, sustainable ways of working, opportunities for growth, and environments built on respect and trust all influence whether people can perform at their best over time—and whether they choose to build long-term careers in the profession.

The six principles call on the profession to:

View the newsletter version.

We held our third Board meeting of 2026 from September 15-17, in Accra, Ghana. Thank you to the African Union Commission and the Government of Ghana for hosting our meeting and for including us in an excellent outreach event, From Standards to Systems: Building Africa’s IPSAS Implementation Architecture for Transparent, Comparable and Trusted Public Financial Reporting.