The Staff Audit Practice Alert is intended to assist auditors in understanding what already exists in the ISAs today and how that material relates to the auditors’ consideration of climate-related risks in an audit of financial statements.

The Staff Audit Practice Alert covers:

• the purpose of the publication;
• entities that may be affected;
• management’s responsibilities;
• auditor’s responsibilities; and
• which ISAs may be most relevant in relation to climate-related risks.

IAASB Technical Director Willie Botha comments:

This Staff Audit Practice Alert shows that while the phrase ‘climate change’ does not feature in the ISAs, the auditor’s responsibilities under the ISAs encapsulate the consideration of events or conditions relevant to the susceptibility to misstatement of amounts and disclosures in an entity’s financial statements, which would include climate-change risk.

The Staff Audit Practice Alert is available on the IFAC website.