News and Publications

Sustainability Information for Small Businesses: The Opportunity for Practitioners

Sustainability Information for Small Businesses: The Opportunity for Practitioners

This report examines the importance of readily available, relevant, and reliable sustainability information for achieving better-informed decisions, enhanced strategic and risk management, and more thorough and valuable reporting to external stakeholders. It also highlights a range of emerging services that practitioners can provide to their clients, including advisory services, reporting, agreed-upon procedures (AUP) engagements, and…
Amendments to IPSAS 5, Borrowing Costs – Non-Authoritative Guidance

Amendments to IPSAS 5, Borrowing Costs – Non-Authoritative Guidance

This pronouncement adds of non-authoritative guidance to IPSAS 5, Borrowing Costs. The non-authoritative guidance adds implementation guidance and illustrative examples to IPSAS 5. The new material in ED 74 illustrates how the existing principles for when borrowing costs can be capitalized are applied in various regularly encountered public sector scenarios. No amendments are proposed to the authoritative…
2021 Handbook of the International Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants

2021 Handbook of the International Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants

This 2021 edition contains recently approved revisions to the Code, including: The revisions to Part 4B to align terms and concepts used in the Code to those in the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board’s (IAASB) International Standard on Assurance Engagements (ISAE) 3000 (Revised). Those revisions became effective in June 2021. The revisions to Parts…
G20 Call to Action 2021

G20 Call to Action 2021

IFAC calls on the G20 to focus on two key actions—where the global accountancy profession is a strongly committed partner—that will move the needle on sustainability, inclusivity, and prosperity. The four priorities from IFAC's 2020 Call to Action remain central to building a better future. Delivering on these will take a concerted effort from policymakers, businesses, other organizations,…
2020 Handbook of International Quality Control, Auditing, Review, Other Assurance, and Related Services Pronouncements

2020 Handbook of International Quality Control, Auditing, Review, Other Assurance, and Related Services Pronouncements

The latest edition of the handbook includes: ISA 540 (Revised), Auditing Accounting Estimates and Related Disclosures replacing ISA 540, Auditing Accounting Estimates, Including Fair Value Accounting Estimates, and Related Disclosures. The handbook also includes conforming and consequential amendments from ISA 540 to other standards, with the exception of International Auditing Practice Note 1000, which will…
How Global Standards Become Local

How Global Standards Become Local

IFAC’s new framework for implementing global sustainability standards set by an International Sustainability Standards Board builds on the previously issued Building Blocks Approach. This framework examines how existing mechanisms already in place for adopting IFRS Standards used in financial reporting may be appropriate or adapted for sustainability-related reporting. Alternatively, a new mechanism may be required. IFAC…
Mapping Documents – ISAs to Proposed ISA for LCE

Mapping Documents – ISAs to Proposed ISA for LCE

These “mapping” documents illustrate how the requirements from the International Standards on Auditing (ISAs) have, or have not, been incorporated within the proposed new International Standard on Auditing for Audits of Less Complex Entities (ISA for LCE). The ISA requirement paragraph numbers refer to the IAASB’s 2018 Handbook of International Quality Control, Auditing, Review, Other…
Outreach Plan for Proposed Standard for Audits of Financial Statements of Less Complex Entities

Outreach Plan for Proposed Standard for Audits of Financial Statements of Less Complex Entities

The IAASB has developed an outreach plan for its proposed new standard for audits of financial statements of less complex entities, which responds to demands to have a set of high-quality audit requirements tailored for the needs of less complex entities. The plan details upcoming virtual and in-person events as well as the IAASB’s plans to gather feedback from…
Ethical Leadership in an Era of Complexity and Digital Change: Paper 1

Ethical Leadership in an Era of Complexity and Digital Change: Paper 1

This paper is the first of four thought leadership pieces that build on a collaborative exploratory paper and global roundtable event held jointly with Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada (CPA Canada) and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS), entitled Ethical Leadership in an Era of Complexity and Digital Change. The exploratory paper, a…
IFAC Comment Letter on the OECD's Draft Revisions to the Anti-Bribery Recommendation

IFAC Comment Letter on the OECD's Draft Revisions to the Anti-Bribery Recommendation

IFAC welcomes the opportunity to comment on the OECD’s draft revisions to the Recommendation for Further Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions (Anti-Bribery Recommendation). IFAC supports the Anti-Bribery Recommendation and the OECD’s efforts to ensure that it is as effective as possible. IFAC looks forward to supporting the revised Anti-Bribery recommendation when…