IESBA Proposes Ethics Standards

The International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA) recently released exposure drafts (EDs) of two proposed ethics-related standards:

• Proposed International Ethics Standards for Sustainability Assurance (including International Independence Standards) (IESSA) and Other Revisions to the Code Relating to Sustainability Assurance and Reporting — These proposed standards would provide “a clear framework of expected behaviors and ethics provisions for use by all sustainability assurance practitioners regardless of their professional backgrounds, as well as professional accountants involved in sustainability reporting.”
• Using the Work of an External Expert — Contains “an ethical framework to guide professional accountants or sustainability assurance practitioners, as applicable, in evaluating whether an external expert has the necessary competence, capabilities and objectivity in order to use that expert’s work for the intended purposes.”

Comments on the ED related to international ethics standards are due by May 10, 2024, and comments on the ED related to using the work of an external expert are due by April 30, 2024.

For more information, see the press release on the IESBA’s Web site.