Technical update

Sustainability

The International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB) has released IPSASB SRS 1, Climate-related Disclosures, the first sustainability reporting standard for the public sector. SRS 1 should help governments and public sector entities report climate-related risks and opportunities clearly and consistently. It is aligned with the International Sustainability Standards Board’s IFRS S2 standard to aid consistency and comparability of public and private sector climate-related disclosures. It will apply to public sector entities’ general purpose annual financial reports from 1 January 2028, with earlier adoption permitted.

IPSASB has also issued a new standard advising on accounting for natural resources with physical substance, such as land, trees and water – often held by governments for preservation and protection. IPSAS 51, Tangible Natural Resources Held for Conservation, also highlights guidance in different standards on accounting for natural resources held by public sector bodies for other purposes.

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) has said that two of its standards came into force on 1 January 2026. One is GRI 101, Biodiversity, which sets a benchmark for disclosing corporate and public sector impacts on nature. The other is GRI 14, Mining Sector, which helps companies provide transparent information, including on their environmental and social impacts.

The GRI has also begun a consultation on revising its information disclosure standards on corruption, competition and public policy. It says the aim is to boost accountability for fair market practices and lobbying. The consultation is open until 10 April.

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development has published a series of articles detailing practical ways in which companies can quantify sustainability-related matters in financial terms.

The European Securities and Markets Authority has published a thematic note on sustainability-related reporting by companies. The paper lists examples of good and poor reporting, and calls for four principles to be followed: that reports be accurate, accessible, substantiated and up to date.

Materiality

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has launched a public consultation on reforming its key regulation S-K, which tells companies how they decide what information to declare that is material to their work and hence useful in financial declarations. This data can currently be broad, such as human capital resources, regulatory compliance and changes to previously disclosed business strategies. But a review launched by SEC chairman Paul Atkins may slim down these requirements to ‘avoid compelling the disclosure of immaterial information’. Comments are requested by 13 April 2026.

Ethics

The International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA) and the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) have launched a survey to help them develop their strategies, consultation papers and workplans for 2028–31. The survey will seek information on, among other things, strategic positioning, and the environmental trends shaping audit, assurance, ethics and independence (such as digital transformation, geopolitical and regulatory developments, and evolving accounting business models).

IESBA has also launched two other surveys. The first focuses on the evolving role of CFOs and other senior finance leaders, and the second on whether the IESBA code remains clear, fit for purpose and practical.

IFRS

New IFRS document translations have been made available in Albanian, Arabic, Azeri, French, Georgian, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Spanish and Ukrainian.

Markets

The International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) has announced that this year it will review its principles for the valuation of collective investment schemes, and its principles and standards for disclosures in secondary markets. It will also stage a targeted implementation review of the IOSCO commodity derivatives principles and address over-the-counter derivatives reporting fragmentation, among other issues.

Audit

The International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI) has released guidance on the audit of information security. It advises on infosecurity audits undertaken by supreme audit institutions to check whether IT management is sufficiently secure. It supplements INTOSAI’s guidance on the audit of information systems, offering advice on the planning, conducting, reporting and follow-up stages of the audit process.

The UK government announced its decision not to press ahead with the long-anticipated reform to audit. ACCA has called ‘a setback for audit and corporate governance’. It said in a statement: ‘Legislation to establish the Audit, Reporting and Governance Authority (Arga) should have proceeded without delay… Establishing Arga would have given businesses certainty and ensured the UK maintains its reputation for the highest standards of corporate governance. See also the AB article ‘Government reneges on audit reform’.

ACSPs

Companies House is working on proposals for the verification of the identity of all individuals before they can file accounts. This would include third parties filing on behalf of others, including accountants filing for their clients.

The move would require some seven million UK directors being individually identified. All third-party agents filing on behalf of UK companies would also have to register with Companies House as authorised corporate service providers (ACSPs). Registration would require identification of the ACSP’s principals.

Since last year, accountants and other professional service providers who are registered for anti-money laundering purposes with a supervisor in the UK, such as ACCA, have been able to register with Companies House to become ACSPs as long as the ACSP has a UK business address.

Following extensive feedback, Companies House has recently postponed the registration deadline, which is now ‘no earlier than November 2026’.