Signed, Sealed, Delivered - ISSA 5000 Receives Certification

On 12 November 2024, the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) announced the certification and final approval of its International Standard on Sustainability Assurance 5000 (ISSA 5000) by the Public Interest Oversight Board (PIOB). 

ISSA 5000 provides a robust, globally applicable foundation for practitioners to provide assurance services in this growing market. It will give increased confidence in the environmental, social and governance (ESG) data reported by companies as they strive to meet the growing expectations of investors and wider society. 

Sustainability reporting is also becoming more important to small and medium size companies as larger firms, public bodies and national parliaments require more sustainability information from the companies they work with and legislate for. 

Unprecedented opportunity 

ISSA 5000 provides an unprecedented opportunity for professional services firms of all sizes to contribute to the growth of sustainability and to participate actively and profitably in the ESG advisory and assurance market. 

The final wording of the standard is now available after some relatively minor changes from the exposure draft. These changes have provided more guidance on the specific concept of double materiality in an entity and how the assurance uses its own materiality. There is also enhanced guidance on the differences of performing work with limited versus reasonable assurance. 

Guidance and support 

The IAASB will follow this announcement with full guidance, support videos and application materials in January 2025. 

Meanwhile, Mercia Group have been developing a range of products to meet the needs of firms who want to provide sustainability assurance in line with ISSA 5000. This includes an international manual and methodology which includes all the programmes, documents and guidance required to perform work under the new international standard. 

Mercia is also developing an EU manual for firms working with European Union reporting requirements in line with the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) with a particular focus on the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), this will be relevant for many of our firms based in Republic of Ireland. As guidance and legislation is introduced in the United Kingdom, we will also develop a UK manual.