On 6 October, the FSMA and the Belgian Audit Oversight Board welcomed a large and diverse group of European stakeholders for a roundtable to discuss a new proposed audit standard for sustainability information. The roundtable was organized by the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) as part of its consultation in view of the possible adoption of a proposed new sustainability assurance standard.
Jean-Paul Servais, the chairman of the Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) and of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), welcomed this initiative, one that he always supported in his role as the former co-chair of the Monitoring Group, which ensures that the public interest is at the core of international standard setting.
At the beginning of the roundtable, Jean-Paul Servais expressed his appreciation for the work done in preparing this international audit standard for sustainability assurance. 'I am delighted at the scale and depth of the IAASB’s commitment to stakeholders, since this makes it possible to gather valuable input from stakeholders worldwide into this new draft standard. The standard will apply to sustainability information that is reported for all sustainability topics and is drawn up in accordance with various frameworks, including the recently issued IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards S1 and S2 that have received IOSCO’s endorsement.'
Bénédicte Vessié, chair of the Belgian Audit Oversight Board, described the roundtable as a historic event and emphasized the importance of high-quality international standards for the independent assessment of sustainability reporting by companies.