The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) released the International Standards: 2025 MENA Insights Snapshot to benchmark international accountancy standards adoption and implementation trends across the Middle East and North Africa from 2019–2024. The report was launched at IFAC Connect MENA 2025 in Riyadh, co-hosted with the Saudi Organization for Chartered and Professional Accountants (SOCPA). 

The snapshot, available in English and Arabic thanks to translation by SOCPA, shows that adoption of international standards has accelerated significantly across MENA in recent years. Nearly all jurisdictions in the region have taken steps to align with International Standards on Auditing, International Financial Reporting Standards, and the International Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants. Several countries have made notable progress in embedding International Public Sector Accounting Standards into public sector reporting frameworks, reflecting growing recognition of the importance of transparency in government finances. 

Differences in regulatory oversight, technical capacity, and resourcing are opportunities for advancement, particularly in public sector reporting and among smaller professional accountancy organizations.  

Lee White, IFAC Chief Executive Officer, said: 
“The 2025 MENA Insights Snapshot demonstrates both the progress and the challenges in ensuring that adoption progresses into implementation. IFAC Connect MENA is the perfect platform to launch this work, because the discussions here are focused on turning commitments into action, aided by the leadership of the accountancy profession. Adoption is a first step and real impact comes when standards are embedded in practice and serve the public interest.” 

Dr. Ahmad Almeghames, CEO of SOCPA and IFAC Board Member, said: “We’re proud to see that Saudi Arabia is the only jurisdiction in the region to have adopted all seven baselines. This achievement reflects the Kingdom’s commitment to advancing the profession and aligning with the highest international benchmarks and serves as an example for the wider MENA region showing how strong leadership, investment in capacity, and collaboration across regulators, standard setters, and the profession can accelerate progress.” 

The report will inform IFAC’s ongoing work with MENA member organizations, regulators, and development partners to strengthen capacity, accelerate adoption, and ensure consistent, high-quality implementation across the region. 

Access the 2025 MENA Insights Snapshot in English and Arabic.  

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 to shape the future of the profession through learning, innovation, a collective voice, and commitment to the public interest. 

The International Standards: 2025 MENA Insights Snapshot presents a regional overview of progress toward the adoption and implementation of international standards across audit, ethics, education, and public and private sector financial reporting, as well as the adoption and implementation of quality assurance systems and investigation and discipline mechanisms. The findings reflect both momentum in adoption progress while at the same time, identifying persistent barriers that are challenging the pace and depth of progress across the region.

IFAC welcomes the opportunity to provide input to the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants' (IESBA) Exposure Draft (ED) for the proposed revisions to the IESBA Code relating to using the work of an external expert.  

The IFAC SMP Advisory Group (SMPAG) welcomes the opportunity to provide input to the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board’s (IAASB’s) Exposure Draft for the Proposed International Standard on Auditing 570 (Revised 202X) Going Concern and Proposed Conforming and Consequential Amendments to Other ISAs.

The IFAC Small- and Medium-Sized Practices Advisory Group (SMPAG) welcomes the opportunity to provide input to the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA) Strategy and Work Plan 2024-2027 Consultation Paper.

The IFAC Small- and Medium- Practices Advisory Group (SMPAG) welcomes the opportunity to provide input to the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA) Exposure Draft on the proposed revisions to the Code addressing tax planning and related services.

The International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA) will hold a series of four global roundtables to obtain stakeholder input to help shape the development of new ethics and independence standards for sustainability reporting and assurance.

Demand for timely, relevant, and trustworthy sustainability information has risen dramatically in recent years as such information is increasingly being used to support capital allocation or other decisions by investors, customers, workers, government agencies, and other stakeholders. In response to such demand,  the IESBA announced in June 2022 its commitment to take timely action to develop fit-for-purpose, globally applicable ethics and independence standards as a critical part of the infrastructure needed to support transparent, relevant, and trustworthy sustainability reporting and assurance. Importantly, this strategic commitment sets up the IESBA’s ethics and independence standards as the third pillar to trustworthy sustainability reporting and assurance, alongside the standards being developed by the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) and the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB).  

In December 2022, the IESBA approved two new standard-setting projects that will develop profession-agnostic ethics and independence standards for sustainability reporting and assurance and on the related topic of “use of experts.”

The quality of the standards to be developed and their ability to meet the needs of the users and any providers of sustainability information will critically depend on timely contributions and input from stakeholders globally. The roundtables being organized aim at providing stakeholders the opportunity to convey relevant information to be addressed in developing the standards.

Save the dates! The roundtables will be held in person at the following times and locations:

• Friday, March 24  -  Paris, France               
• Thursday, March 30  -  Sydney, Australia                     
• Monday, April 3  -  Singapore        
• Thursday, April 6  -  New York, USA

The agenda for the roundtables will be available in due course. Videoconferencing facilities will be made available for participants who are not able to attend in person, where available.

Would you like to attend?

As space is limited, attendance will be by invitation only. Register your interest at IESBA@ethicsboard.org  by February 1, 2023, indicating your name, job title, organization, location, and session. An invitation will follow shortly to the selected interested stakeholders!

Who should attend?

Members of the investor and corporate governance communities, data aggregators, rating agencies, and other users of sustainability information; C-suite executives including those leading corporate sustainability initiatives; regulators and oversight bodies; international policy-making organizations; national standard setters; preparers; professional accountancy organizations; and sustainability assurance providers, including accountancy firms and independent providers outside the accountancy profession.

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 ethics standards, including auditor independence requirements, which seek to raise the bar for ethical conduct and practice for all professional accountants through a robust, globally operable International Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants (including International Independence Standards) (the Code).