BETTER FINANCE responds to the IAASB-IESBA Stakeholder Survey for the 2028-2031 strategy period from the perspective of European individual investors, savers and financial users.
The SSBs should measure progress not by the volume of standards issued, but by whether those standards deliver tangible improvements in the quality, comparability and reliability of information available to markets. Implementation, consistent application and enforceability are equally critical to achieving public-interest outcomes and must become a more integral part of the SSBs' work.
BETTER FINANCE calls on the IAASB and IESBA to deepen coordination with each other and with other standard setters and regulators. The reporting and assurance ecosystem is increasingly interconnected. Fragmentation, whether regulatory, jurisdictional or thematic, undermines comparability and erodes public confidence.
Stakeholder engagement must go beyond the accounting and audit profession. Investors, consumer representatives, civil society organisations, academics and end users of financial and sustainability information should have a meaningful voice in standard setting.
On emerging trends, BETTER FINANCE stresses that AI and other technologies must support rather than substitute human responsibility, critical assessment, professional scepticism and accountability. Sustainability assurance must prioritise reliability, comparability and decision-usefulness over volume of disclosure. Evolving firm ownership structures and the growth of non-assurance services require careful scrutiny to preserve independence and ethical culture. BETTER FINANCE further highlights information complexity and decision-usefulness as a distinct concern: excessive complexity, overlapping requirements and inconsistent reporting practices risk information overload and reduce the practical usefulness of reporting outputs for investors.
BETTER FINANCE encourages the SSBs to pursue joint and coordinated work on technology, technology-enabled misconduct and sustainability assurance, and to complement formal standard-setting with more agile forms of guidance and engagement. The legitimacy of global standards depends on due process; agility must not come at its expense.
Read the Consultation Response