Invitation to comment on IESBA Exposure Draft

The Exposure Draft relates to the International Federation of Accountants’ (IFAC) International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA) project to develop more robust and comprehensive provisions dealing with the long association of personnel with an audit or assurance client. It contains a basis for conclusions regarding proposals that have been finalized, as well as the limited re-exposure of three remaining issues, including:

• An increase from two to five years in the cooling-off period for the engagement quality control reviewer (EQCR) on the audit of a listed entity, and to three years on the audit of a public interest entity (PIE) other than a listed entity;
• An alternative approach to the cooling-off requirements for PIE audits in the Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants (the Code) where jurisdictions have established different but robust legislative or regulatory safeguards to address the threats to auditor independence created by long association; and
• A revised approach to determining how long an individual should cool off after having served either as an engagement partner (EP) or as an EQCR, or in a combination of roles, for only part of the seven-year period they have served as a key Audit Partner.

The IFAC invites all interested parties to comment on the IESBA’s proposals. The deadline for commenting on the ED is 9 May 2016.

Exposure Drafts

https://www.ifac.org/system/files/publications/files/IESBA-Long-Association-with-Audit-Client-Limited-Re-exposure.pdf