IRBA ethics for sustainability assurance from 2026
When the IRBA's ethics and independence standards for sustainability assurance take effect, the later value-chain date, and what firms can prepare now.
By Achekam · · 4 min read · For Accountants & audit firms in South Africa
Sustainability assurance has arrived in many South African firms sideways. A client's lender wants comfort over an emissions figure; a group parent wants its local subsidiary's energy data checked; a listed client asks its auditor whether the firm "does ESG". The engagements are small at first, and the ethics questions around them are easy to defer.
That window is closing. The IRBA has set dates from which its ethics and independence standards for sustainability assurance apply, with a further date for the provisions that reach into a client's value chain. This article sets out those dates and what a firm can sensibly put in place before them.
The two dates to diarise
The IRBA says its ethics standards for sustainability assurance, including independence standards, and the standard on using the work of an external expert, are effective from 15 December 2026. Value-chain provisions take effect later, from 1 July 2028.
Two dates, then, and two different kinds of preparation:
| From | What applies | What to prepare |
|---|---|---|
| 15 December 2026 | Ethics and independence standards for sustainability assurance; using the work of an external expert | Independence records for sustainability clients; expert engagement files |
| 1 July 2028 | Value-chain provisions | An understanding of each client's value chain and the firm's relationships within it |
The first date is close enough that engagements being accepted now may run across it.
Who is already bound by the IRBA Code
The IRBA says its Code of Professional Conduct applies to all registered auditors, firms and individuals, whether their status in the IRBA register is assurance or non-assurance. The current version is the IRBA Code (Revised 2024).
A registered auditor doing sustainability assurance work is therefore already within the IRBA's ethical framework; the new standards add specific requirements for that kind of engagement. Firms should read the IRBA's pronouncements on who exactly the sustainability standards apply to rather than assume. For the Code's general structure and recent changes, see the IRBA Code (Revised 2024).
Using the work of an external expert
Sustainability engagements lean on experts more than most financial audits: engineers for emissions methodology, environmental scientists for water or biodiversity data, actuaries for climate scenario work. The standard on using the work of an external expert takes effect on the same date as the ethics standards.
Before then, a firm can review how it currently engages experts on these assignments:
- whether the expert's engagement terms are in writing and on file;
- how the firm assessed the expert's competence and objectivity;
- whether the expert has any relationship with the client being assured;
- who in the engagement team reviewed the expert's work, and how.
If the honest answer to several of these is "we didn't record it", that is the gap to close.
Value chains from 2028
The later date gives firms time to understand the value-chain provisions before they bite. Sustainability information often covers suppliers and customers as well as the client itself, which can bring entities the firm has relationships with into the frame. Use the time to map, for each sustainability client, which parts of its value chain its reports cover, and whether the firm or its people have connections to any of them.
The reporting side is still being consulted on
On the client side, CIPC is running a Sustainability Reporting Market Sentiment Survey as part of a regulatory impact assessment, published under Customer Notice 06 of 2025. That is a consultation, not a reporting requirement. The demand for assurance in the meantime comes mostly from lenders, customers and group parents, which means engagements vary widely in scope and need careful terms.
Preparing in Achekam
Achekam's working-paper template packs, written in its own words, include an ISAE 3000 pack alongside packs for audits, reviews, agreed-upon procedures and other work. A firm adopts and approves a pack before using it; until then the catalogue is marked as unapproved platform content. The packs list ISAE 3000; there is no pack named for ISSA 5000, so a firm planning engagements under newer sustainability assurance standards will need to adapt its own materials. More on using ISAE 3000 is in ISAE 3000 assurance engagements.
For independence, staff record annual independence declarations and any interest, relationship or gift involving a client, and anyone can check whether a person has an active independence exception for a client. Extending the firm's declaration to cover sustainability assurance clients, and the experts and value-chain entities connected with them, is a practical first step before December 2026.
Achekam does not pull a live feed of standards and regulatory changes; its Standards & Regulatory Updates page shows what its knowledge base records. Further IRBA pronouncements on sustainability assurance will not appear automatically, so the firm's quality partner should own the job of watching for them.
A short plan for the next quarter
- List every engagement that gives assurance on sustainability information, current or proposed.
- For each, confirm the team's independence declarations cover the client and record any exceptions.
- Review how external experts were engaged and documented, and fix the template.
- Start the value-chain map for clients whose reports cover suppliers or customers.
- Put both effective dates in the firm's quality calendar.
Where the dates are published
The IRBA's page on the Code of Professional Conduct and the Rules Regarding Improper Conduct carries the Code and its pronouncements, including the sustainability assurance standards and their effective dates. Read the standards there before accepting any sustainability engagement that will still be running in December 2026.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
