Ethics
The International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA) has approved two significant sets of standards designed to underpin public trust in sustainability reporting and assurance. The first is the International Ethics Standards for Sustainability Assurance (IESSA) and related revisions to its International Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants (including International Independence Standards), which set a global benchmark for ethical behaviour and independence in sustainability reporting and assurance. The second is a revised Using the Work of an External Expert code to help accountants and sustainability assurance practitioners evaluate these specialists’ competence, capabilities and objectivity.
Sustainability
The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) has welcomed the publication of the International Standard on Sustainability Assurance (ISSA) 5000 by the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB). ‘Assurance plays an essential role in ensuring the quality, comparability and trustworthiness of this information, as it does with financial information,’ says IFAC. The standard covers sustainability information reported by accountant and non-accountant assurance practitioners. Final guidance documents will be released in January 2025.
The IFRS Foundation has published a comprehensive guide to help companies identify and disclose material information about sustainability-related risks and opportunities that may affect their cashflows, access to finance or cost of capital over the short, medium or long term. A key goal is helping them understand sustainability-related risks and opportunities, as described in IFRS S1, General Requirements for Disclosure of Sustainability-related Financial Information.
The Council of the European Union has adopted a new EU regulation on environmental, social and governance (ESG) ratings. It says EU rating providers must be authorised and supervised by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), and must follow transparency requirements regarding methodology and information sources. ESG ratings providers based outside the EU must be endorsed by an EU-authorised ESG rating provider to operate in the EU.
Accountants and their clients can now download an official interoperability index of GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) standards and the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS). The index outlines how GRI disclosure requirements relate to the ESRS.
The International Foundation for Valuing Impacts (IFVI) has released an interim methodologies and global value factors database to help companies and investors measure and value their most significant environmental impacts. It covers air pollution, land use, waste and water pollution.
Public sector
The International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB) has issued IPSAS 50 on the exploration for and evaluation of mineral resources, and amended IPSAS 12, Inventories, on stripping costs in the production phase of a surface mine. The board says until now public sector mining entities have lacked guidance on producing sufficient information on their investments to reap the benefits of their mineral resources. IPSAS 50 advises on mineral exploration and evaluation costs. The IPSAS 12 changes clarify when to capitalise costs incurred in removing waste material in surface mining operations as inventory or a non-current asset or both.
Accounting
The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) is to revise its IFRS Practice Statement 1 on management commentary in 2025, having completed technical decision-making on the project. The update will help companies deliver better information on a company’s ability to create value and generate cashflows, including in the long term.
Islamic finance
The IASB has wound up its Islamic finance consultative group and will henceforth engage with Islamic finance organisations through its outreach programmes.
Taxation
The Council of the European Union has approved a directive to speed up double-taxation relief on cross-border investments in shares and bonds. Member states must introduce either a relief-at-source procedure that applies the relevant tax rate at the time of payment of dividends or interest, or a quick refund system that swiftly repays overpaid withholding tax within a set deadline. Some exemptions will apply.
More information
ACCA’s annual virtual conference, Accounting for the Future, features sessions on technical and regulatory issues including reporting on biodiversity and ecosystem risks and opportunities, ethical challenges for accounting professionals, and an update from the IASB on its future workplan.
