Proposed Technology-related Revisions to the Code

Overview

Rapid technology changes have had an increasing impact on the everyday life of assurance practitioners.

IESBA proposes to enhance the Code of Ethics with Technology-related matters, including:

  • confidentiality imperatives of the digital age
  • ethical dimension of using or relying on the output of technology
  • identifying threats to compliance with fundamental principles arising from relying on the output of technology
  • strengthened and clarified International Independence Standards (IIS) with respect to technology-related non-assurance services (NAS) firms may provide to their audit clients or technology-related business relationships they may enter into with their audit clients.

Other proposed revisions to the Code of Ethics include:

  • importance of non-technical professional skills
  • considerations of complex circumstances when applying the Code’s conceptual framework
  • acknowledgement that the IIS that apply to assurance engagements are applicable to assurance engagements on non-financial information, for example, environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosures.

IESBA Exposure Draft and Consultation Documents

Proposed Technology-related Revisions to the Code | IFAC (ethicsboard.org)

Submissions

The XRB consultation period finished 9 May 2022, and no submissions were received.