The International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants decided during a meeting this month in New York to move ahead on a project to update its
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After two and a half years of research and engagement with its stakeholders, the IESBA decided at its June 2026 board meeting to pursue a targeted, principles-based update to the code of ethics. The targeted approach is designed to avoid prescriptive provisions by keeping the framework principles-based and anchored in the ethics code without reducing culture to a compliance exercise. The updates will complement the International Standard on Quality Management 1 by reinforcing the firm’s quality objective to demonstrate a commitment to quality through a culture that recognizes and reinforces the importance of professional ethics, values and attitudes.
It will also ensure internal code coherence by bringing all eight elements of firm culture and governance together holistically, replacing the ethics code’s current partial and fragmented references. The eight proposed interconnected FCG elements include ethical leadership, oversight and governance, independent input, accountability, incentives and disincentives, open discussion and challenge, education and training, and transparency.
Practical guidance and educational materials to support awareness-raising and consistent adherence to the code’s ethical provisions will be developed in collaboration with firms, jurisdictional standard setters and professional accounting organizations. The updates will apply globally and proportionately to firms of all sizes and across all service lines.
An exposure draft is planned for December of this year, with final approval targeted by the end of 2027.
More information is available in an
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