Last updated: 01 Jul 2024 04:00 Posted in:
A new report on how accountants can approach the sustainability-related challenges they face has been published by International Federation of Accountants (IFAC). The organisation said its ‘Sustainability Assurance: What to Expect’ report is published at a time “when policymakers and regulators around the world are moving with pace to introduce essential requirements for sustainability reporting and assurance”.
IFAC Chief Executive Officer Lee White said: “We are in the midst of a significant global transformation as businesses seek opportunities and ways to respond to sustainability-related challenges. Professional accountants are absolutely crucial in this transformation, and have an important public interest role to play. Our profession has a mature competency in analysing and interpreting data, and the ability to use it to successfully innovate and introduce new business models.”
He added: “Companies are working diligently to develop their governance structures and the processes, systems and controls needed to support sustainability reporting and assurance. Investors and other users of this information should expect, at least initially, that sustainability assurance engagements may be different from what occurs with financial reporting. For example, I expect that assurance reports may include modifications, which would be reflective of the transformation that is occurring.”
In a statement accompanying the report’s publication, IFAC said it would “continue to coordinate with other international organizations, including the IFRS Foundation, the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), and IOSCO in pursuit of this goal”.
It added: “We invite organizations to reach out to us with opportunities for further collaboration. We also encourage producers and users of sustainability-related information to engage with one another to further a shared understanding of and commitment to high-quality sustainability assurance.
“Finally, we call for sustainability assurance engagements to be conducted in accordance with the global standards being developed by the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) and International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA) to help ensure high-quality assurance.”
READ FULL REPORT“We are in the midst of a significant global transformation as businesses seek opportunities and ways to respond to sustainability-related challenges. Professional accountants are absolutely crucial in this transformation, and have an important public interest role to play."
Lee White, Chief Executive Officer, IFAC