Technical RoundUp 20 June

In developments since the last edition, IFAC has released some practical tools to assist SMEs and Public Sector entities, IAASA has published details of its significant financial reporting enforcement activities in 2023 and 2024, and the FRC has issued a consultation on a proposed UK version of the International Standard on Sustainability Assurance (ISSA) 5000.

Read more on these and other developments that may be of interest to members below.

Financial Reporting

The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) has announced that it has decided to proceed with issuing seven illustrative examples that aim to improve the reporting of uncertainties in the financial statements. It expects to issue these examples in Q3 of 2025.

The IASB has announced that it expects to issue its revised IFRS Practice Statement 1 Management Commentary on 23 June 2025.

The IASB has published a Request for Information as part of its Post-implementation Review of IFRS 16 Leases. The Request for Information remains open for public comment until 15 October 2025.

ESMA, the European Securities and Markets Authority, has published the latest edition of its Spotlight on Markets Newsletter.

The European Accounting Review, in collaboration with the International Accounting Standards Board is accepting submissions for a special issue featuring research proposals. The deadline for submissions is 1 December 2025.

The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) has released some practical tools to support IPSAS Implementation. These tools are designed to help governments and public sector entities adopt and implement IPSAS Standards and help Professional Accountancy Organisations advocate for their use.

IFAC has also released an online tool designed to help SMEs to maximise the benefits of incorporating sustainability into their sustainability strategy.

IAASA has published an overview of some of its more significant financial reporting enforcement activities undertaken in 2023 and 2024.

Auditing and Assurance

The Staff of the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) and the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA) have released new publications to support implementation of the IAASB’s and IESBA’s sustainability-related standards: the International Standard on Sustainability Assurance (ISSA) 5000 and the International Ethics Standards for Sustainability Assurance (IESSA).   These are Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on Sustainability Assurance Engagements and IESBA Staff Q&As on IESSA.

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has issued a consultation on a proposed UK version of the International Standard on Sustainability Assurance (ISSA) 5000, “General Requirements for Sustainability Assurance Engagements”. The consultation proposes ISSA (UK) 5000 for use on a voluntary basis by assurance providers and comments are requested by 31 July 2025.

Sustainability

The IFRS Foundation is joining London Climate Action Week from 21–29 June 2025.  This event will bring together key stakeholders, policymakers and international organisations.

The European Sustainable Energy Week 2025 takes place from 10 to 12 June 2025 in Brussels and online. It brings together leading voices from the clean energy community and high-level speakers to share ideas and help shape Europe’s sustainable energy future. 

The IFRS Foundation has published jurisdictional profiles providing transparency and evidencing progress towards adoption of ISSB Standards.

The IFRS Foundation has launched new e-learning modules to support companies in getting started with understanding the ISSB Standards. The modules include a mixture of written and visual content and interactive knowledge checks, designed to build foundational knowledge of the ISSB Standards.

Accountancy Europe has published its June 2025 Sustainability Update.

Anti-money laundering, sanctions, economic crime

In June 2025 the EU Commission updated its list of high-risk jurisdictions which present strategic deficiencies in their national anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism regimes. Click for a press release and here for a  copy of the delegated regulation (which delegated act enters into force if the European Parliament or the Council of the EU do not object to it, during the scrutiny period which generally lasts 2 months ). The following countries have been added to the list: Algeria, Angola, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Laos, Lebanon, Monaco, Namibia, Nepal and Venezuela.

The following countries have been removed from the list: Barbados, Gibraltar, Jamaica, Panama, the Philippines, Senegal, Uganda, and the United Arab Emirates.

Accountancy Europe (AE) has responded to the European Banking Authority’s (EBA) consultation on new rules related to the anti- money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism package. Accountancy Europe’s response to the EBA consultation has focused replies on the draft regulatory technical standard (RTS) on Customer Due Diligence and in particular identified four RTS articles that would benefit from clarification, refinement, or more proportionality.

In June 2025 the UK Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) launched six short sanctions videos highlighting six key areas dealing with financial sanctions. The videos will give users valuable insight into the essentials of complying with UK financial sanctions. The videos  detail the work carried out at OFSI and how financial sanctions work, provide an insight into the range of  guidance that OFSI produces to help individuals and companies comply with UK financial sanctions, give an overview of the sanctions consolidated list, outline what to do if you suspect a financial sanctions breach and give an introduction to general licences and detail what a specific licence is and how to apply for one.

Click the link for details of the UK Government’s improvements to navigation of GOV.UK sanctions content following a cross-government review and an ask from users for clearer, better structured sanctions content.

In June 2025 the UK Dept. for Business and Trade issued its second progress report on the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023. The report describes Companies House activity including the querying and removal of  false, misleading or incorrect information from the registers, with an impact on 100,400 companies from 4 March 2024 to 3 March 2025 inclusive. The report also includes information on limited partnership reform, the register of overseas entities and collaboration between Companies House and the Insolvency Service.

New or proposed legislation

The Minister for Children, Disability and Equality recently implemented the European Union (Gender Balance on Boards of Certain Companies) Regulations 2025. These regulations impose new gender balance requirements for boards of listed companies by 30 June 2026. The regulations do not apply to micro, small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) or unlisted companies. Under the regulations relevant listed companies must have the objective that at least 40% of the non-executive directors of the relevant listed company concerned are members of the underrepresented sex.

The ‘28th regime’ a new EU legal framework for innovative companies is  a proposed legal framework that is additional to the national legal frameworks of the 27 Member States .It was referenced in the European Commission’s Competitiveness Compass of January 2025 and its work programme of February 2025. The idea behind it is that the EU will  offer a parallel, elective legal framework that businesses can choose to operate under simplifying applicable rules and  bypassing the different national legal frameworks. In June 2025 the EU Commissioner for Justice Democracy and the rule of law, Michael Mc Grath, appointed Dr Tom Courtney a solicitor, leading author on Irish Company law and previous chair of the Irish Company Law Review Group as his special adviser to advise him on the proposal for a new 28^th regime company. Dr Courtney writes that this is a very important EU initiative to make it possible for companies to benefit from a simpler harmonised set of EU wide rules.

The UK Companies and Limited Liability Partnerships (Annotation) Regulations 2025 (2025 Regulations) allows the UK Registrar of Companies to annotate the Register of Companies. Under the Companies Act 2006, the Registrar currently has the authority to issue notices requiring specific information from overseas entities within a time limit set by the Registrar. Under the 2025 Regulations the Registrar may annotate the Register to indicate that a notice to the Overseas Entity was issued and not complied with. Other power of annotation under the 2025 Regulations includes the annotation of the Register that a person who appears in the Register as a director is subject to director disqualification sanctions.

Other news

The Central Bank of Ireland has in June 2025 issued its Central Bank second quarterly bulletin headlining slower pace of domestic growth amid trade tensions and global uncertainty.

The Charity Commission for Northern Ireland has launched a new series of guides designed to help charity trustees run their organisations effectively and in line with their legal duties.

The June edition of Enterprise Newsletter from Enterprise Ireland has been published.    

The Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment Peter Burke has established The Cost of Business Advisory Forum with the aim of reducing the cost of running a business and addressing delays which can impact the operation of businesses in Ireland. The Group will be chaired by former Labour Court Judge Kevin Foley and the group includes representatives from Chartered Accountants Ireland.

We recently reported that the Irish Companies Registration Office has launched an Open Data Portal which provides access to key company data. Please click here for a useful article by CLS Chartered Secretaries which gives examples of the types of information available on the portal and practical tips to make the most of the portal.

Accountancy Europe has outlined its support of the ongoing work of the European Union Intellectual Property Office and has compiled some key points, conclusions and actions for the future in its recent publication.

Accountancy Europe has also published an information paper covering the evolution and impact of private equity investment in the European accountancy profession over the last decade.

The Irish National Cyber Security Centre has launched  a useful  ‘plain English’ guide to keeping your online accounts secure designed to make the often complex and confusing information around keeping online accounts secure more accessible to the public.

Technical Roundup is taking a break for the summer and the next Roundup will be issued on Friday 5 September. Any updates during this period will be published on the technical hub on the Institute's website.  

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