Search Results for: accountancy

The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) has issued an ‘Inaugural Jurisdictional Guide’ helping governments adopt or use ISSB standards. Its information is designed to boost transparency in implementation, offering practical help in drafting regulations and policies. https://www.ifrs.org/content/dam/ifrs/supporting-implementation/adoption-guide/inaugural-jurisdictional-guide.pdf; https://www.ifrs.org/content/dam/ifrs/supporting-implementation/adoption-guide/regulatory-implementation-programme-outline.pdf; https://dart.deloitte.com/iGAAP/home/sustainability-reporting/sustainability-reporting-literature/issb-guidance-requests-for-information…

The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) has unveiled proposed changes to its International Education Standards (IES) to embed sustainability analysis, reporting and assurance within professional accountants’ training. Key proposals include working with experts and in multi-disciplinary teams; introducing key sustainability reporting concepts, such as systems thinking, value chains and scenario analysis; and referencing relevant sustainability reporting and assurance standards.…

Accountants and their clients within the European Union (EU) have had to avoid trading with an increasing number of sanctioned individuals and companies, especially in Russia, following its invasion of Ukraine. Now, with sanctions evasion being criminalised across the EU under a new proposed law, the risk of exposure to sanctions for EU companies and their accountants and auditors has risen further – both when dealing with actors subverting these measures and when undermining sanctions themselves, of course.…

Technology is fundamental for higher education (HE) providers, but for many managers in the sector it remains “something of a black box” a collection of essays published by the Oxford, UK-based Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) has warned. https://www.hepi.ac.uk/2024/03/28/technology-foundations-for-twenty-first-century-higher-education/

“We would like the digital university experience to be (…) responsive, intuitive, connecting and personalised,” writes Professor Karen O’Brien, vice-chancellor and warden at northern England’s Durham University, “even though procurement processes, uneven technological development and regulatory controls mean that a ‘seamless’ straight-to-smartphone student experience is still some way off”.…

Staff and students at Derna University, in eastern Libya, have rallied to repair an institution devastated by floods that tore through its home city and port Derna last September 11. The torrents, for example, seriously damaged the university faculty of education building, while killing 12 faculty professors and 28 members of university staff, with 286 students officially declared dead.…

The increasingly sophisticated ML tactics of criminal organisations and the resulting expansion AML/CFT policy and legislation has boosted demand for external consultants.

Indeed, regulators can encourage the hiring of third-party expertise. England and Wales’ legal association The Law Society released guidance last December (2024) on how small law firms can meet their AML compliance obligations, stressing external consultants could provide training on UK AML regulations, that smaller outfits might struggle to deliver in house (1).…

The total value of reported fraud in the UK more than doubled last year (2023) to GBP2.3 billion (USD2.9 billion), according to accountancy and business advisory firm BDO’s latest ‘FraudTrack’ analysis (1).

The figure – up 104% on 2022 values – was the second-largest annual amount in the last decade (still well below the 2021 high of GBP10 billion skewed by the massive level of fraud linked to the government support schemes during the Covid-19 pandemic.…

An executive of an unregistered university in Malawi has been convicted and fined, the first legal fruit of a government crackdown launched in 2022.

Tuweh Gusto Gadama, 55, on January 17 (2024) was ordered by Principal Resident Magistrate Rodrick Michongwe, sitting in the capital Lilongwe, to pay Malawi Kwacha MWK3.4 million (USD2,000) for operating higher education institutions illegally.…

The Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) has released new Global Internal Audit Standards. Designed to help internal auditors, the revamped standards include strengthened model governance frameworks to improve responsiveness to rapidly changing business environments; guidance helping internal auditors in the public sector and small internal audit functions; more flexibility aiding adapting challenges faced by auditors worldwide; and guidance on cybersecurity.…

Businesses and public authorities across the European Union (EU) are facing tougher laws on late payments, with the European Commission proposing a new regulation that would insist on maximum 30-day terms. Under the legislation, if approved by the European Parliament and the EU Council of Ministers, later payments would automatically accrue interest payable to the creditor, at 8% above European Central Bank (ECB) base rates.…