IESBA Changes to Part 4B of the Code to align it to changes to terms and concepts in the IAASB’s International Standard on Assurance Engagements (ISAE) 3000 (Revised) [Completed]

Effective date:

The re­vised Part 4B of the Code will be ef­fec­tive for pe­ri­ods commencing on or af­ter June 15, 2021

Last up­dated:

January 2020

 

Overview

Har­mo­nized provin­cial Rule 204 sets out the Cana­dian pro­fes­sion’s stan­dards that en­sure Char­tered Pro­fes­sional Ac­coun­tants (CPAs) main­tain au­di­tor in­de­pen­dence dur­ing en­gage­ments they un­der­take or par­tic­i­pate in. It sets the stan­dards and re­quire­ments CPAs must main­tain as part of their pro­fes­sional con­duct. Ethics stan­dards adopted by Cana­dian provin­cial bod­ies are cre­ated in align­ment with the Code of Ethics for Pro­fes­sional Ac­coun­tants is­sued by the In­ter­na­tional Ethics Stan­dards Board for Ac­coun­tants (IESBA).  Hence, changes to the IESBA Code of Ethics will need to be re­flected in Rule 204.

The IESBA has un­der­taken a pro­ject to re­view and com­pare the terms and con­cepts in the re­vised and re­struc­tured Code (specif­i­cally the In­ter­na­tional In­de­pen­dence Stan­dards, Part 4B – In­de­pen­dence for Other As­sur­ance En­gage­ments Other than Au­dit and Re­view En­gage­ments) and the IAASB’s ISAE 3000 (Re­vised), As­sur­ance En­gage­ments other than Au­dits or Re­views of His­tor­i­cal Fi­nan­cial In­for­ma­tion. It is an­tic­i­pated that the re­sult­ing pro­pos­als will be lim­ited to con­se­quen­tial amend­ments, and will clar­ify the in­de­pen­dence pro­vi­sions that ap­ply to the var­i­ous par­ties in­volved in an as­sur­ance en­gage­ment.

For fur­ther de­tails about the pro­ject, re­fer to the IESBA’s pro­ject sum­mary.

On March 27, 2019, the IESBA re­leased for pub­lic com­ment an Ex­po­sure DraftPro­posed Re­vi­sions to Part 4B of the Code to Re­flect Terms and Con­cepts Used in ISAE 3000 (Re­vised). The pro­pos­als were de­vel­oped in close co­op­er­a­tion with rep­re­sen­ta­tives of the IAASB, as part of the co­or­di­na­tion pro­gram of the two stan­dard-set­ting boards. Com­ments on the Ex­po­sure Draft are re­quested by June 26, 2019 from all stake­hold­ers.

On January 3, 2020, the IESBA released the Revisions to Part 4B of the Code to Reflect Terms and Concepts Used in ISAE 3000 (Revised). The main revisions include:

  1. changes in key terminology, including a revised definition of the term “assurance client”;
  2. amendments to certain independence requirements in light of the revised assurance client definition;
  3. greater clarity as to the parties to an assurance engagement and their roles and responsibilities, and the related independence requirements that apply; and
  4. a clearer distinction between the types of assurance engagement covered in Parts 4A (addressing independence for audit and review engagements) and 4B of the Code.

For further details, refer to the press release on the IESBA's website.

 

Other de­vel­op­ments

January 2010

On January 3, 2020, the IESBA re­leased the revisions to Part 4B of the Code to Re­flect Terms and Con­cepts Used in ISAE 3000 (Re­vised).

March 2019

On March 27, 2019, the IESBA released for public comment an Exposure Draft, Proposed Revisions to Part 4B of the Code to Reflect Terms and Concepts Used in ISAE 3000 (Revised).

 

Related Discussions

Part 4B of the Code and ISAE 3000 - IESBA

September 2019

  • At its meeting on September 16-19, 2019, the IESBA reviewed a summary of the 26 responses received from a broad range of stakeholders on the Exposure Draft. Overall, the respondents were supportive of the proposed changes to Part 4B and many noted that they helped to clarify the requirements of the Code. As a result of the comments made: (i) the IESBA confirmed that the term “assurance client” was appropriately defined and included in the revised Part 4B of the Code; (ii) the IESBA agreed that, due to the nature of assurance services, it is necessary to consider the impact on additional parties in respect of such work (compared to an audit) and decided that it would be appropriate to include additional application material in Part 4B to cover this; (iii) the IESBA agreed that it would also be helpful to provide more guidance outside of the Code such as in the form of a staff publication, and decided that this will be done; and (iv) the IESBA concluded that the revised Part 4B of the Code should be effective for periods ending on or after June 15, 2021. Subject to the review by the Public Interest Oversight Board of IFAC, all of the members of the IESBA voted to approve the revised Part 4B of the Code, including the changes made during the meeting.

March 2019

  • At its meet­ing on March 11-13, 2019 , the IESBA unanimously approved an exposure draft of proposed changes to Part 4B of the Code to align it to changes to terms and concepts in the IAASB’s International Standard on Assurance Engagements (ISAE) 3000 (Revised). Among other matters, the exposure draft includes (i) a proposed revised definition of the term “assurance client” and a new definition of the term “responsible party”; (ii) proposed revisions to describe more clearly the circumstances in which the firm needs to be independent of the measurer or evaluator with regard to attestation engagements; and (iii) clarification of the types of assurance engagement addressed in Part 4B.  The ED will be open for public comment for 90 days.  

Correction list for hyphenation

These words serve as exceptions. Once entered, they are only hyphenated at the specified hyphenation points. Each word should be on a separate line.