To implement the International Sustainability Standards Board’s (ISSB’s) standards and jurisdictional standards and regulatory requirements, organizations must ensure effective oversight arrangements to deliver high quality, cost effective and decision useful reporting. As reporting and assurance of sustainability-related disclosure evolves, audit committees have a critical role to play in expanding their existing oversight responsibilities for financial reporting and compliance to sustainability-related disclosures.

Because many professional accountants serve on and are accountable to audit committees, the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), has released Key Questions for Audit Committees Overseeing Sustainability-Related Disclosure to prepare audit committees with effective questions to ask when overseeing sustainability and ESG related disclosures.

The key questions for audit committees cover:

• Roles and responsibilities across the organization
• Data collection, processes and controls
• What’s being reported?
• Audit and assurance

“Professional accountants serving on boards and audit committees play critical roles in the oversight of sustainability-related disclosures, and this release will help prepare audit committees step up their roles to advance sustainability,” said Kevin Dancey, IFAC CEO. “We also encourage professional accountancy organizations (PAOs) to utilize these key questions to help their members stay up to date with, and prepare for, expanding oversight responsibilities in relation to sustainability.”

Access the placemat to find out the essential questions.

About IFAC
IFAC is the global organization for the accountancy profession dedicated to serving the public interest by strengthening the profession and contributing to the development of strong international economies. IFAC is comprised of 180 members and associates in 135 countries and jurisdictions, representing more than 3 million accountants in public practice, education, government service, industry, and commerce.

Mandatory greenhouse gas (GHG) reporting is on the horizon.

The International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA) held 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.

The all-day roundtables, held in person in Paris, France (March 24), Sydney, Australia (March 30), Singapore (April 3), and New York (April 6), allowed stakeholders to convey relevant information to be addressed in developing the new standards. They were attended by members of the investor and corporate governance communities, C-suite executives, data aggregators, rating agencies, 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.

Read the briefing materials for attendees here.

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.”

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).