Australian Government
Auditing and Assurance Standards Board
Thursday, August 17, 2023
The AUASB has released a Consultation Paper seeking public comment on the IAASB’s Exposure Draft on Proposed ISSA 5000 General Requirements for Sustainability Assurance Engagements (Proposed ISSA 5000).
With the goal of supporting the trust investors, regulators and other stakeholders have in reported sustainability information, the IAASB has developed a global sustainability assurance standard ISSA 5000, that the AUASB now exposes for public comment within Australia. As noted in the recent Treasury Consultation on Climate-related financial disclosures, external assurance has a key role in contributing to sustainability reporting reliability by enhancing the trust and confidence decision makers have in sustainability disclosures.
The Proposed ISSA 5000 aims to serve as a comprehensive, stand-alone standard suitable for any sustainability assurance engagements. It will apply to sustainability information reported across any sustainability topic and prepared under multiple frameworks, including the recently released IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards S1 and S2. Proposed ISSA 5000 addresses both limited and reasonable assurance. The proposed standard has been developed to be profession agnostic, supporting its use by both professional accountant and non-accountant assurance practitioners.
AUASB Consultation
The AUASB’s Consultation Paper will be open for a comment period of 85-days, closing 10 November 2023 and stakeholders are encouraged to comment on all or some of the questions contained in the Consultation Paper.
In August/September, the AUASB will be releasing educative webinars and videos taking stakeholders through the main proposals of the standard. Additionally, in October, the AUASB will host roundtable and other events to obtain stakeholder feedback on the proposed ISSA 5000. Stakeholders’ feedback will be used to inform the AUASB in its formal response to the IAASB on the IAASB Exposure Draft.
Any queries about the Consultation Paper and the AUASB’s associated outreach activities should be directed to Rene Herman, AUASB Deputy Technical Director, at [email protected].