A brief look at our Auditing, Reporting & Compliance Practice Group meeting at the GGI World Conference in Lisbon
Prof Dr Michel De Wolf
by Prof Dr Michel de Wolf
Our Practice Group (PG) got first an up-date about the last developments of ESG standards:
In June 2023 the ISSB issued IFRS S1 General Requirements for Disclosure of Sustainability-related Financial Information and IFRS S2 Climate-related Disclosures.
At the end of July 2023, the EU Commission delivered the first set of ESRS (European Sustainability Reporting Standards) – subject to a “no opposition” from the Parliament and the Council.
IAASB is working on a future ISSA 5000 (International Standard on Sustainability Assurance) General Requirements for Sustainability Assurance Engagements. ED was available for comments until 01 December 2023. Final standard is expected in September 2024. For now no EU endorsement is foreseen.
Then we moved to two questions, that we discussed within several roundtables. Here are the two questions, and a summary of the answers.
First question: should our PG comment some exposure drafts related to ESG (audit) standards? Which ones? Which process?
The answer was no, except in some special cases, like we did for other (audit) standards (LCE for example).
The leadership of the Practice Group could continue to select the documents where a reaction from our alliance could reinforce the comments introduced by other stakeholders.
Second question: how can our PG help GGI members training themselves for preparing and/or auditing ESG reports?
Most participants declared to be very aware of the challenges ESG (audit) reports could be for many GGI members. They expect a significant increase of skills and time needed for an extended audit (25%?).
Therefore, the following suggestions were made:
organising some training activities at GGI level;
preparing some tools in order to inform, motivate and even educate our customers and our staff;
favouring exchange of good practices, experiences and documentation among GGI members, especially through data bases;
continuing informing the membership about the real application of ESG (audit) standards around the world.
Let’s go on with the discussions and above all the implementation in our next Practice Group meetings.
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Prof Dr Michel De Wolf is an auditor, lawyer and honorary chairman of the Belgian Institute of Auditors. He specialises in high-level tax advice, financial analysis, IAS / IFRS, company law and consolidation. He has proven experience as an auditor and advisor, particularly in various non-profit organizations and public-sector entities. Prof Dr De Wolf is current chairman of CBCR/BOBR, the umbrella organisation for audit SMPs in Belgium. He is also a member of the accounting standard setter in Belgium, and a part-time judge. He is honorary dean of the Louvain School of Management.Contact Michel.
