Dear IECnet Members,
in this Newsletter July/August 2023 you'll find the following topics:
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Call for Candidacy
On behalf of the IECnet Secretary, please find the call for candidacy:
The Board of IECnet is composed of 11 members. At least one member of the Board must come from each continent where IECnet has members (i.e. Africa, America, Asia/Oceania, Europe) (rule 4.4). The sub committees of public relations, audit and tax are required to have a Board member as chairperson (rule 4.13).
The current members of the Board are:
- Chairman: Vincent Domon
- Vice Chairman and Chairman Executive Committee: Daniel Ziska
- Treasurer: Miloud Stoti
- Secretary: Daniel Termin
- Representative Africa/Middle East: Wassim Turki
- Representative Asia/Oceania: Manu Palerichal
- Representative South America: Ismael Bustamante
- Representative North America: Pallav Acharya
- Chairman Audit Committee: Frederic Borràs
- Chairman Tax Team: Arigo Ploy
- Chairman PR & Business Development: Suan Wee Tan
Vacancies
Daniel Ziska has reached the end of his 2rd Board term. He is available for re-election.
Daniel Termin has reached the end of his 1st Board term. He is available for re-election.
Manu Palerichal has decided to end his participation in the Board. Consequently, he is not available for re-election.
Frederic Borràs has reached the end of his 2rd Board term. He is not available for re-election.
According to IECnet Rule 4.7 any member may nominate as a candidate for a vacant position in the Board. Candidates will be subject to a vote by the delegates at the AGM.
So if you wish to join the Board of IECnet, you may apply by sending your candidacy to the IECnet Secretary, Mr. Daniel Termin, before 11th September 2023.
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Upcoming Events
The next two IECnet events are the Staff Seminar in Torino, Italy (21st to 23rd September 2023) and the AGM in London, UK (11th to 15th October 2023). We are pleased to see a particularly high number of members registering for both meetings. If you still want to register, please send us an email.
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IECnet Survey
Some time ago we sent a survey to all IECnet members. Since we need the information asked for in it (ie which services are offered by each member firm?) also for our new website, we would like to request all members who have not yet participated to answer the questions. It will only take a few minutes.
Thank you very much for your support!
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Forum of Firms Meeting
On the 27th and 28th of June 2023, a meeting of the Forum of Firms took place in the New York´s premises of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC).
The Forum of Firms is an association of international networks of accounting firms that perform transnational audits. Its objective is to promote consistent and high quality standards of financial reporting and auditing practices worldwide. The Forum brings together firms that perform transnational audits and involves them more closely with the activities of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) in audit and other assurance-related areas.
IECnet forms part of the Forum and was represented in this meeting by its Chairman Vincent Domon and Frederic Borràs, Chairman of its Committee on Audit.
The meeting started with an analysis and discussion on the proposed International Standard on Auditing 570 (Revised) on Going Concern. The review of this standard is carried out in a period in which new corporate failures took place, and other factors add uncertainty like the covid, the war or the increase in the interest rates that challenge the audit profession to provide additional assurance to the users of the financial statements, as like the representative of the PCAOB said, the role of the auditor becomes of more importance in times of turbulences.
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One of the main items under discussion was the proposed change to consider the going concern matters for the period of 12 months beginning at the approval date of the financial statements, rather than at year end as stands now.
Wording on the auditor’s report to refer to the going concern will change and will vary in the different circumstances once this proposal will be approved. Now is in form of exposure draft for comments until the end of August.
A presentation from the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants ( IESBA) detailed the new standard that they are working with to provide guidance and requirements for those reporting on ESG matters, being auditors or from other professions.
The meeting was also devoted to inform on the challenges and opportunities supporting audit quality in Latin America as well as to the audit quality initiatives in USA and Canada, as this time the focus was on the Americas.
The report of the CEO of IFAC addressed basically the state of play in ESG assurance at the time that the ISSB Sustainability Standards have been published in final form.
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Online Board Meetings
In recent online Board Meetings held on 8th and 21st of June, 11th of July and 22nd of August, the IECnet Board addressed critical matters:
- Membership Expansion: The Board reviewed the next steps for two potential new members, aiming to enhance the diversity and expertise within IECnet.
- Financial Approach: Deliberations on meeting accounts underscored our commitment to financial transparency and accuracy.
- Future Venues: Discussions revolved around selecting suitable venues for 2024 and 2025, vital for improving collaboration and learning.
- Operational Efficiency: Invoices were approved, ensuring seamless operations and enabling us to focus on delivering value to our members.
- Budgets for 2023/24 and Financial Statemenents 2022
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IECnet Committee on Audit Meeting
The IECnet Committee on Audit held a quarterly meeting on 12th of July with the participation of most of its members.
Network Review Program
First topic dealt with was to follow up on the network review program (NRP) and appointment of reviewers for the members selected for quality control review. Collaboration from the members selected is required to facilitate the process of review with the objective to follow up on the audit quality objectives.
Audit Webinar
After the success of the last Audit Webinar that had more than 30 attendees and was devoted to the lessons learned in Quality
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Control Reviews, (it was recorded and is available to all members who were not able to participate), the next webinar session will be on 26th of September at 10 am (Paris time) and we will be discussing ISA 600 (Revised) Audits of Group Financial Statements.
Audit Manual
Lastly, the meeting dealt with the IECnet Audit Manual that is presently being developed and it is supposed to be presented in the next AGM that will take place in London in the middle of October. It will have new templates and updated questionnaires. It will be an important additional piece of Audit technical guidance for IECnet members in addition to the Audit Reports Manual and the IECnet Quality Management Policy that have been developed by our network in the recent years.
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ISSA 5000
Recently, the IAASB released its proposed International Standard on Sustainability Assurance (ISSA) 5000, General Requirements for Sustainability Assurance Engagements.
ISSA 5000 will be available in French, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish in the coming weeks. The IAASB invites all stakeholders to comment on the proposed revisions via the IAASB website by 1st of December 2023.
As we understand, this is a significant step forward for the profession which brings the hope of new work opportunities. As such, developments in this respect will need to be followed up closely.
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IECnet Day is on 25th of September
IECnet was founded on 25th of September 1987, so we celebrate "IECnet Day" every year on that day. Every year there is a competition among our members: Who organises the most creative idea to celebrate IECnet Day? There have been IECnet cakes, IECnet presentation for employees, donations to charity in the name of IECnet and much more. What idea do you have to celebrate the day? Send us photos and/or videos of your IECnet Day activities! Who will be the IECnet Day winner 2023?
The winning firm gets IECnet coffee trees planted in their name. These trees will yield coffee beans for coffee that we live and survive on and also, provide oxygen and carbon credits. Our IECnet “plantation” was started in 2020 and the CO2 the trees have absorbed so far is the equal to the CO2 emitted in 6km by an airplane. Let’s keep on planting IECnet trees all over the world!
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Annual Assembly of Public Accountants in MexicoOur Mexican Member B&B Consultores SC is promoting the Annual Assembly of Public Accountants in Mexico (8th to 10th November 2023), along with another well know firms. The Assembly is the most important annual event of Public Accounting organized in Mexico.
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End of Membership
The IECnet membership of the following firms ended in the first half of 2023:
- Congo Business Consulting (Congo)
- Forbiznes Audyt Traugutta (Poland)
- SVDG Afrique (Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Togo)
We thank these firms for their IECnet membership and wish them all the best for the future!
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