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Equipping Aspiring Professional Accountants for the Future: Overview of IES
IFAC webinar slides on the revisions to the International Education Standards for sustainability and assessments. The webinar provides an overview on the updates to IES 2, 3 and 4, which embed sustainability throughout aspiring professional accountants' training. It also included the rationale for changes and some first steps for IFAC members and other stakeholders to get started on for implementation. Watch the original English webinar or live interpretations in Arabic, French, Mandarin or Spanish via the IFAC website or YouTube channel.
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Equipping Aspiring Professional Accountants for the Future: Overview of IES
- 1. Equipping Aspiring Professional Accountants forthe Future Overview of Revisions to the International Education Standards April 2025 Webinar INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF ACCOUNTANTS
- 2. • Overview ofthe IES • IES 6 revisions • Sustainability revisions • Next steps • Q&A Agenda
- 3. IESs: Global Baselinefor Accountancy Education Authoritative for IFAC Member Organizations
- 4. IES 6 –Formal Assessment of Professional Competence Overview of revisions Effective July 1, 2026
- 5. Drivers for change COVID-19 challenges Online/ hybrid assessments Modernization of principles
- 6. Overview of IES6 enhancements New principle of formal assessment added New principle of formal assessment added Updated principle to include accessibility and inclusivity Updated to provide examples of common practice Language simplified and clarified to enhance ease of use Authenticity Integrity Equity Illustrative examples Modernization
- 7. New Principle: Authenticity Anassessment activity has a high level of authenticity if it assesses the intended learning outcomes in a way that reflects realistic situations that may be faced by professional accountants.
- 8. Potential ways toincrease authenticity Tasks and activities that you’d expect in role Online / hybrid assessments User real-life case studies
- 9. New Principle: Integrity Anassessment activity has a high level of integrity if it is designed, delivered, and overseen to minimize the potential breaches of assessment security, improper administration and/or completion of an assessment.
- 10. Potential ways toincrease integrity Supervision of assessments Use of technology for originality checks Clarity on policies, including penalties and breaches Synchronized exams Security over testing materials Range of variable testing materials
- 11. Updated Principle: Equity Anassessment activity has a high level of equity if it is fair and without bias, allowing all aspiring professional accountants an equal opportunity to successfully complete the professional accounting education program. Equity is achieved by assessment activities which are accessible and inclusive to all aspiring professional accountants.
- 12. Potential ways toincrease equity Providing access to technology Respect for linguistic and cultural diversity Appropriate adjustments to time, resources or formats Clear requirements and policies
- 13. Sustainability Reporting and Assurance Overviewof revisions to IES 2, 3, and 4 Effective July 1, 2026
- 14. Growing demand forsustainability-related information
- 15. What competence insustainability reporting and assurance is needed by every professional accountant?
- 16. Overview of approach Principles-basedglobal baseline, allowing for adaption to local context Sustainability concepts embedded into IES 2, 3, and 4 Additional explanatory materials to support implementation
- 17. Overview of sustainability-relatedconcepts in IES 2, 3 and 4 Business acumen Strategy and business model Risks and opportunities Internal and external factors Considering alternatives Behavioral Collaboration and communication Multi-disciplinary teams Informed decisions Intellectual curiosity Data & information Metrics and targets Value chain analysis Scenario analysis Reporting General purpose financial reporting: preparation and interpretation Connected information Assurance New competence area Foundation level Connected information Ethics as the foundation for all professional activities Reducing bias in communications | Relying on work of others and external experts
- 18. Business acumen Accountants willplay an expanded role in providing strategic insights and support informed decision-making to drive sustainable business practices.
- 19. • Analyze theexternal and internal factors that affect an organization’s business model, including its value chain, and its business strategy. • Analyze an organization’s risks and opportunities using a risk management framework.* Business acumen EXAMPLE LEARNING OUTCOMES:
- 20. Behavioral Strong behavioral competencewill enable accountants to communicate, collaborate and adapt effectively in a rapidly changing environment.
- 21. • Demonstrate effectivecommunication, collaboration, and cooperation, including when working with or within multi- disciplinary teams. • Demonstrate intellectual curiosity to emerging ideas and practices. EXAMPLE LEARNING OUTCOMES: Behavioral
- 22. Data & Information Accountantswill play a key role in collecting, controlling, and preparing data and information including metrics and targets, value chains and scenario analysis to support internal reporting and performance measurement.
- 23. EXAMPLE LEARNING OUTCOMES: •Analyze the current and anticipated financial performance and position of an organization, using techniques including ratio analysis, trend analysis, cash flow analysis, and scenario analysis. • Analyze an organization’s business model, including its value chain. Data & Information
- 24. Reporting Accountants will applynew sustainability- related reporting requirements and produce high-quality, decision-useful general purpose financial reports.
- 25. EXAMPLE LEARNING OUTCOMES: •Prepare general purpose financial reports, including consolidated financial statements, in accordance with IFRSs or other relevant standards. • Evaluate connected information when preparing general purpose financial reports. Reporting
- 26. Assurance To support theneed for high-quality, decision- useful general purpose financial reports, accountants will apply new sustainability- related assurance requirements, including using judgment and understanding materiality.
- 27. NEW ASSURANCE COMPETENCEAREA: Overview Foundation assurance concepts level Jurisdictional flexibility on subject matter Explanatory materials to support application
- 28. Ethics Ethical behaviors willremain the foundation underpinning all professional activities that accountants undertake.
- 29. EXAMPLE LEARNING OUTCOMES: •Apply techniques to reduce bias when solving problems, forming judgments, making informed decisions, reaching well-reasoned conclusions, and communicating with a range of stakeholders. Ethics
- 30. Capacity building andresources Next steps
- 31.
- 32. A Multi-Stakeholder Approachto Education Alignment between education and emerging practice is key Professional Accountancy Organizations Accountancy Educators Accounting Firms Businesses and other employers
- 33. Resources to getstarted
- 34.
- 35. Support IFAC’s GlobalResearch Study Attractiveness of the Accountancy Profession A joint survey with IFAC, IAAER, and researchers from the University of Western Australia. Help us get our surveys to: • High school accountancy teachers • High school career teachers/advisors • Accountancy academics/educators • Employers of accountants Share the QR Code or link: bit.ly/IFACPerceptionsSurvey
- 36. Thank you. Follow uson: Copyright © 2025 International Federation of Accountants. All rights reserved. Contact [email protected] for permission to reproduce, store, translate or transmit this document.
Editor's Notes
- #1 MC: Good morning, good afternoon and good evening – wherever you are in the world, welcome to this IFAC webinar focused on equipping aspiring professional accountants for the future – an overview of the revisions to the international education standards. Before we get started a few bits of administration. This webinar has a number of language options available to you. You can access these channels by using the button in zoom, which should allow you to toggle between languages. We will reserve time for Q&A at the end of this webinar – if you do have a question at any point in the webinar, please put your question in the Q&A box – we'll read through those received at the end. If you have any technology issues, please also use the Q&A box to submit them as the chat has been disabled for this presentation.
- #2 In today's presentation, we'll cover the following topics: A brief overview of the IESs – how they provide a global baseline for professional competence that covers the breadth of an accountant’s education throughout their career, as well as how they’re structured, and what we mean by competence areas and learning outcomes Secondly, we’ll explore the revisions to both IES 6 – Formal Assessments and to IES 2, 3 and 4 for sustainability reporting, including considering the background to each project and the key enhancements which have been made. We'll briefly discuss next steps and capacity building, before ending with a Q&A session. Today I'm delighted that we're joined by the following speakers: Ann Lamb – Director of Professional Qualifications at ACCA, member of the International Panel for Accountancy Education and member of our IES 6 Working Group; and Nadine Kater – Director of Education and Transformation at the Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors in South Africa, observer of the IPAE and member of our Sustainability Reporting Project working group. Let's get started then
- #3 IESs are structured in a way that mirrors how accountants enter into the profession education programs, develop their initial professional competence - both through learning and practical experience, and are assessed. Once qualified, IES 7 covers responsibilities towards CPD, while IES 8 covers professional competence for those individuals who go on to be audit engagement partners. The IESs are authoritative for IFAC Member organizations. They prescribe a global baseline for professional competence – that is, the ability of a professional accountant to perform a role to a defined standard. It sets a minimum expectation for what we expect from any newly qualified professional accountant, as well as for continuing professional development and for specialized audit engagement partners. Today we will discuss the two recent changes to the IES – firstly to IES 6, which covers formal assessment. Secondly, we'll cover the sustainability reporting revisions to IES 2, 3, and 4. These revisions were developed with significant stakeholder input, both during the information gathering and during the consultation period. The IPAE is proud of the quality and rigor undertaken by both projects – and thanks all of you for contributing with your thoughts and feedback along the way. I’ll now hand over to Ann Lamb, who will pick up from the next slide
- #4 . Let's discuss the revisions to IES 6 – Formal Assessment of Professional Competence, which will become effective from July 1, 2026.
- #5 This project was kicked off as a result of the pandemic. All around the world PAOs were suddenly faced by the challenge of how to do assessments in the face of lockdowns and social distancing. Many shifted to online and/or hybrid assessments to meet these challenges. These changes highlighted the need for IES 6 to be modernized to reflect the new assessment environment.
- #6 The IES 6 revisions provide several enhancements, which will improve formal assessment. Three of these focus on the principles of formal assessment. IES 6 includes principles of formal assessment. IFAC member organizations are responsible for ensuring that the design, delivery and oversight of assessment activities and processes have high levels of these principles. None of these are absolute measures and PAOs will determine how to balance these in developing their professional accounting education programs. All of these principles are of equal importance for assessment activities. The principles have been expanded five to seven with the additions of authenticity and integrity as principles. Equity, an existing principle has also been revised and updated to include accessibility and inclusivity. In response to stakeholder feedback, the examples and language of IES 6 has also been reviewed for simplification and modernization. The IES 6 working group reviewed all examples to ensure they cover common practice and wherever possible sought to ensure plain, simple language is used to improve usability. Let's look at each of the principles that have been updated and potential ways to increase them.
- #7 Authentic assessments are those that reflect realistic situations that may be faced by professional accountants. Authenticity in assessments provides a benefit in that by emulating real situations, it will aid in preparing aspiring professional accountants for the complexity and variety of tasks, as well as real-world tasks that are likely to face. This means, assessment itself can be a learning tool.
- #8 Authenticity can be increased in a variety of ways. For example: Through using simulations or software from real life – for example, having students undertake data analysis or visualisation with real life software packages Assessments could also involve real life tasks or case studies as well.
- #9 Integrity – this is of key importance to accountants and our public interest focus. The IES 6 revision add in a new principle, which focuses on ensuring that assessments are not breached and that the assessment completed is the work of the aspiring professional accountant. Let's turn to ways it can be increased.
- #10 There are many ways to increase integrity in assessment – these listed here focus on ways PAOs can increase integrity over the design, delivery and oversight of assessments. Technology can be a key tool in this – through providing monitoring, checking for originality of assessments, as well as helping with facilitating synchronized exams. Clear policies were are communicated out to students, as well as any suppliers will also support this.
- #11 Finally, of our updates to the principles of assessment, let's look at equity, which is an existing principle but that has been modernized. At the heart of equity, is equal opportunity. The equal opportunity for all aspiring professional accountants to successfully complete a professional accounting education program. This means the assessments should be fair and without bias – which is achieved through assessments which are accessible and inclusive to all.
- #12 There are many ways we can improve the accessibility and inclusivity of assessments. The slide demonstrates a few which we'd like to emphasize: Technology – using tools can make assessments more accessible for those who need it Considering diversity when creating and reviewing assessments activities and content Providing clarity on assessment requirements and policies – so all aspiring professional accountants are aware in advance Making appropriate adjustments to accommodate additional educational and/or assessment needs There will be many other ways to increase equity, as well as the other principles of formal assessment – but these will depend on the individual circumstances of the PAO. Like all of the IESs, IES6 is principles-based, which allows individual PAOs to consider their circumstances while implementing them. Thank you, and I'll now hand over to Michelle / Nadine who will cover the sustainability reporting project.
- #13 Thank you Ann– now let's look at the revisions to IES 2, 3 and 4, which like the updates to IES 6 will also become effective from July 1, 2026.
- #14 A bit of background to these revisions. Recent years have seen a significant shift in demand from both internal and external stakeholders for high-quality, decision-useful sustainability related information. This has resulted in the development of new international reporting, assurance and ethical standards – as you can see there, private sector reporting issued by the IFRS Foundation's International Sustainability Standards Board. Public sector climate-related disclosures are currently also in development by the IPSASB. Assurance and ethics standards have also been finalized by the IAASB and IESBA. All of these standards being issued or developed has raised an important consideration for the IPAE...
- #15 What competence in sustainability reporting and assurance is needed by every professional accountant? The revisions to IES 2, 3 and 4 aim to address this question, by incorporating the results of the significant information gathering and consultation processes of the Sustainability Reporting Project into the learning outcomes expected from aspiring professional accountants at the end of IPD. Let's turn to the key enhancements.
- #16 Let's look at the overall approach and key enhancements. Firstly, the revisions provide a principles based approach – this allows IFAC member organizations to adapt implementation based on their jurisdictional context. This means for those who want/need to go further, they can. This aims to provide a balanced pace of change that all can keep up with. Secondly, the changes embed sustainability concepts into the IES learning outcomes. Ensuring there is a comprehensive and connnected understanding of sustainability-related data and information. This has been deliberately, so that sustainability isn't treated in isolation or as an 'add on' only. Finally, just to mention, the revisions add in new explanatory materials which provide guidance for implementation – including for example on interpretation of proficiency levels and learning outcomes. Let’s now look at how sustainability concepts have been embedded into IES 2, 3, and 4 through updates to learning outcomes on business acumen, behavioral skills, data and information, reporting and assurance, and ethics across the IES.
- #17 Let's get into the detail a bit further on the changes. We've grouped the updates into six elements which make the baseline of competence needed in sustainability reporting and assurance. These areas interrelate and connect with each other. Three of them – business acumen and behavioral, and the ethical foundation are about the HOW – how professional accountants, think, work and behave. Three – data & information, reporting and assurance – are about the technical WHAT – the inputs into the reporting ecosystem – from the internal data, to external reporting and finally assurance on it. Under reach area, we’ve described the sustainability-related competence which has either been updated in the IES or for which the Panel felt existing learning outcomes should be applied on a principled based approach to sustainability. Let’s explore each of these further
- #18 Business acumen was a key area highlighted in our information gathering. To tackle sustainability reporting, accountants need to be able to connect the dots and consider the impact of the global sustainability landscape on business models, value chains, and strategies. This means they need to develop an understanding of how financial and sustainability risks and opportunities connect. This competence will be key to providing management with the high-quality sustainability-related information they need to support informed decision-making. Now, we can't go into all the learning outcomes that support this in this session, but to give an illustration of this – let's take a look at one learning outcome.
- #19 The first learning outcome is a great example of the business acumen updates in the learning outcomes. This reflects the importance of analyzing the impact of sustainability factors, whether external or internal on business models, including value chains, and the strategy of an organization. For an aspiring professional accountant, learning outcome asks them to consider wider context of operations and how they connect with the specifics of the business. It builds on top of another learning outcome focused on value chains in the business and organizational environment above. The second learning outcome, is actually one which hasn’t changed. However, understanding sustainability-related risks and opportunities, as well as financial and other non-financial risks and opportunities, is a key part of business acumen, as well as sustainability reporting. Given the extant learning outcome’s language was already inclusive to cover sustainability, the Panel did not update it – however, we highlight it to demonstrate that the changes to incorporate sustainability explicitly, also need consideration of the existing learning outcomes which already utilize principles-based, inclusive language that applies to sustainability. For further detail on existing learning outcomes which the Panel did not update, but noted were drafted in an inclusive way for sustainability, please refer to the detailed tables of learning outcomes and rationale for both changes and no changes, which is included in the Basis for Conclusions document, as well as a separate standalone document on IFAC’s website.
- #20 In order for accountants to effectively use their business acumen, they’ll also need to change the way they work to be more collaborative. To meet the challenges ahead, accountants will need to be able to communicate and work effectively in a multi-disciplinary fashion. They’ll need to be curious and adaptable, learning how to analyze new types of information other than just dollars and cents. All of these behavioral changes together will be part of ensuring accountants are committed to not only lifelong learning, but intellectual curiosity. This will help them not only with meeting the challenges of sustainability, but all those other changes on the horizon, like AI. Let's look at one learning outcome on the changes with regard to collaboration and communication.
- #21 Accountants will need to increasingly work with non-accountants, such as sustainability experts, including potentially scientists and others to understand new types of data. This learning outcome focuses on really building these important enabling skills of collaboration and communication which will make them successful in this area. Likewise, they’ll nee to be adaptable and intellectually curious in the face of continuing change – a competence that will also be important for successfully using AI and new technologies going forward.
- #22 The last two areas have been really focused on the HOW, but let’s spend some time talking about the WHAT – as sustainability reporting impacts on what accountants will be doing in the roles. We call this project the sustainability reporting project – but really, external reporting isn’t the first step, or the last, in terms of what accountants do – it’s merely the tip of the iceberg of information that the public sees. Accountants are responsible for so much behind the scenes -- setting up and reviewing controls to collect high quality data from across the business – considering the financial impact of transactions and other strategic decisions – producing reports that provide management with the crucial data and information on performance – and now sustainability data and information will likely come into their wheelhouse. While accountants are unlikely to be the ones doing the measurement, for example of carbon emissions, many are likely to be involved in setting up the controls and systems for reporting performance against metrics and targets. They might need to collect data from businesses in their value chain, or be asked to feed into analysis work on the choice between suppliers. New reporting standards will ask them to report on scenario analyses – which they’ll need to collaborate with other colleagues and specialists on. Revisions include updates to learning objectives to ensure that key aspects of data and information – like metrics and targets, value chains, and scenario analysis - which will be crucial for sustainability reporting have been incorporated where relevant throughout IES 2. Let's look at one example learning outcome change now.
- #23 This learning outcome provides an example of how accountants will contribute to internal reporting and performance measurement in an organization. Scenario analysis in the context of financial performance and position was added in to reflect IFRS S1 and S2 terminology. This ensures that aspiring professional accountants develop the relevant competence in this at an appropriate proficiency level. Likewise, learning outcomes have been updated to include analysis of value chains, which will be of key importance for management accountants, as well as those preparing financial statements. I’ll now pass to Nadine who will pick up on the remaining sustainability-related concepts on the next slide.
- #24 Building on the data and information – accountants will need to be ready for sustainability reporting. Our updates aim to address this, by referencing international standards for sustainability reporting. The learning outcome updates take a similar approach to financial reporting – with an aim for aspiring professional accountants to be able to evaluate the policies used to prepare a sustainability report, as well as how to prepare and interpret sustainability disclosures and reports. These proposals aim for aspiring professional accountants to be able to apply the relevant sustainability standards relevant to their jurisdiction, the same as they would be expected for financial reporting. Let's look at a key learning outcome on this.
- #25 These learning outcomes covers two significant changes. Throughout the financial accounting and reporting competence area, references have been updated to general purpose financial reports – which included both financial statements and sustainability-related financial disclosures. This ensures both financial and sustainability is included within the financial accounting and reporting competence area. The second learning outcome also addresses the IFRS S1 concept of connected information. Connected information enables users to understand the connections between information between sustainability-related risks and opportunities and the connections between different disclosures in general purpose financial reports. A related learning outcome on connected information has been included in the assurance competence area as well.
- #26 Demand for sustainability assurance engagements is increasing, both to meet regulatory requirements, as well as address investor needs. A new competence area ofucsed on assurance a foundation level of proficiency has been added to ensure aspiring professional accountants are prepared for the future. Let's look at this new competence area.
- #27 There are three key features of this that we'd like to highlight. Firstly, this has been set at a foundational level, which contrasts with other competence areas like audit, which are set at an intermediate level. This was done to reflect that at this stage, assurance is not yet mandatory in many jursidictions. The learning outcomes in assurance broadly mirrors those of the audit learning outcomes – however, the directive verbs are foundational in nature. Assurance does have to additional learning outcomes necessary for understanding general assurance concepts, focused on differences between reasonable and limited assurance and connected information. Secondly, the underlying subject matter is not manadated in this competence area. This allows for jurisdictional variability and flexibility, and reflects feedback received during the consultation, where responses raised concerns that specifying sustainability would inappropriately narrow the scope of this competence area. Finally, additional explanatory materials are provided to support on this competence area. We believe this new competence area will ensure that accountants develop a foundational understanding of the fundamentals of assurance, which can be used to develop higher proficiency in other forms of assurance.
- #28 Ethics are the foundation of everything a professional accountant does – and that includes with sustainability reporting. We’ve reviewed the learning outcomes on ethics – many of the learning outcomes already applied implicitly to sustainability, and we expect this will become even stronger with updates to the IESBA Code for sustainability. We’ve done a number of targeted revisions to ethics learning outcomes. Given the increased focus and concern on greenwashing, the revisions focus on considering bias and ethics, especially when reporting, as well as when working with others and external experts. The latter in particular links to the need for working in a multi-disciplinary fashion and understanding the need to maintain an inquiring mind. Let's turn now to one learning outcome example.
- #29 This learning outcome focuses on addressing points frequently raised with greenwashing, by highlighting the importance of considering reduction of bias when communicating with stakeholders. Further explanatory material has been included specifically on this learning outcome as well.
- #30 Michelle – Thank you to Ann and Nadine for providing these presentations – as well as all of their incredible work on creating these revisions. At IFAC we are so incredibly proud of these revisions – they are the work of significant collaboration and engagement with stakeholders all around the world, indeed with many of you watching today may have been part of our surveys or roundtables. The degree of outreach has been crucial for all that we’ve been able to accomplish to date – and will be key to our success as these changes are implemented. Next slide.
- #31 It’s that spirt of collaboration that we need to continue as we build capacity in the profession, especially for sustainability related competences. The work isn’t over – it’s just the beginning. So many in the ecosystem will contribute to this – this slide has a few, from the… Preparers, Assurance providers, Future accountatns Non-accountant experts And Regulators But the one I’d like to emphasize here today, is the educators, who will play a key role in the future. We need to think carefully how we provide the educator community with the knowledge and practical background to effectively deliver learning interventions to support upskilling. Next slide
- #32 And it’s in the spirit of something Ann explored earlier – the principle of authenticity – that is, not only exams resembeling the actual work of accountants, but also the learning being authentic too. To make that work – I’d like to call out a few things to think about – How we can work together to share understanding How we can support educators – so they have the support of PAOs, businesses and accounting firms – and make sure that what they’re teaching is aligned with current and emerging practice. This work isn’t the work of days, but of years and decades. As practice improves, so with it does education also need to improve. As we move forward on this journey together, we need to collaborate and support each other across the system. Next slide
- #33 As we move forward, IFAC will be preparing supporting materials to help you along the way. We've already produced a number of documents, including factsheets for both sets of revisions, and sustainability specific FAQ and learning outcome change overviews, which provide a detailed over view of all the changes to learning outcomes, including rationale behind learning outcomes which have not changed but have sustainability-related considerations. We encourage you to have a read through these and please do get in touch if you have questions or ideas for further resources which would help support you.
- #35 Thank you for your attention and interest in the revisions to the IES. Before we concluded, we’d just like to request that you get involved in other areas of Accountancy Education that IFAC is working on. We currently have a global research project focused on the attractiveness of the accountancy profession, which we’d love to hear from you on – as well as have you share with your networks. We are specifically looking to hear from high school or equivalent accountancy teachers, career teachers/advisors, accountancy academics/educators and employers of accountants. Please use the QR code on the screen or follow the link in the slides, which will be available at the end of this webinar.