IESBA’s Snapshots provide short, non-technical overviews of IESBA projects and initiatives. They explain purpose, direction, and current focus in clear and accessible terms, alongside more detailed technical materials.
This Snapshot focuses on IESBA’s Role of CFO Initiative.
Q1. Why is IESBA examining the role of CFOs now?
In recent years, the role of Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) and other senior finance leaders has expanded significantly beyond traditional financial stewardship. CFOs are increasingly involved in areas such as sustainability reporting, data governance, technology oversight, and enterprise risk management.
These developments place CFOs at the center of decisions that affect the integrity and reliability of both financial and non-financial information relied upon by investors and markets, regulators, and the public. Understanding how this evolving role may shape ethical decision-making is a necessary first step before considering whether IESBA's existing ethical frameworks continue to provide appropriate support in these conditions.
Q2. What are the objectives of the “The Role of CFOs” initiative?
The objectives of the initiative are to better understand:
- How the CFO role is evolving across industries, sectors, and jurisdictions
- Whether this evolution has resulted in new or additional ethical challenges
- Whether the ethical framework in the IESBA Code remains clear, relevant, and fit for purpose in supporting ethical decision-making in these environments
The initiative is exploratory and evidence-based. Its purpose is to inform the Board’s understanding before any consideration of potential future actions.
Q3. Does this initiative assume that CFOs are facing ethical failures?
No. The initiative does not start from an assumption of ethical failure or misconduct.
Rather, it recognizes that roles, expectations, and decision environments have changed, and it seeks to understand whether existing ethical principles and guidance continue to operate effectively under these evolving conditions. The focus is on learning from experience.
Q4. What has IESBA learned so far?
Initial insights from a CFO pulse survey suggest significant diversity in CFOs’ professional backgrounds, ethical reference points, and sources of guidance. Many CFOs are not members of a professional accounting body and often rely primarily on employer-based codes of conduct rather than professional ethical standards.
These early findings highlight the importance of deeper and broader engagement to better understand which ethical frameworks are applied in practice and how, and where CFOs may experience ethical pressures or uncertainty in real-world decision-making.
Q5. What is IESBA focusing on in the current phase of work?
The initiative is currently in an information-gathering phase, drawing on:
- Research and analysis
- Extended surveys
- Stakeholder engagement, namely through global roundtables and focus group meetings
This phase is designed to explore where ethical challenges and pressures arise, how they are experienced, and how CFOs navigate them across different organizational, regulatory, and jurisdictional contexts. It is intentionally focused on evidence-gathering rather than conclusions.
Q6. Does this work signal upcoming changes to the IESBA Code or issuance of new guidance?
No decisions have been taken at this stage. The initiative seeks to assess whether existing provisions in the IESBA Code remain fit for purpose considering the evolving CFO role and associated ethical challenges. Any consideration of standard-setting, the development of guidance, or other initiatives will take place only after the information-gathering phase has concluded and following full deliberation by the Board.
Q7. Who is in the scope of this initiative?
The initiative focuses on CFOs and other equivalent senior finance leaders across the private, not-for-profit, and public sectors, regardless of the title of their role or professional background.
This includes both professional accountants and individuals who are not members of a professional accounting body. Capturing this diversity is central to understanding how ethical decision-making operates in practice and where common themes may - or may not - emerge.
Q8. Why is IESBA the appropriate body to undertake this work?
IESBA sets high-quality international ethics standards, including independence standards, for the preparation, reporting and assurance of financial and non-financial information. These standards are a cornerstone of ethical behavior in business and organizations and help support public trust in the information that underpins the functioning and sustainability of organizations, financial markets, and economies worldwide.
As CFO roles evolve and ethical decision-making increasingly influences information relied upon by investors and markets, regulators, and society, it is appropriate for the IESBA to examine whether its existing ethical framework remains clear, relevant, and practical in the public interest.
About IESBA
The International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA) is an independent global standard-setting board. The IESBA’s mission is to serve the public interest by setting high-quality, international ethics (including independence) standards as a cornerstone to ethical behavior in business and organizations, and to public trust in financial and non-financial information that is fundamental to the proper functioning and sustainability of organizations, financial markets and economies worldwide.
Along with the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB), the IESBA is part of the International Foundation for Ethics and Audit (IFEA). The Public Interest Oversight Board (PIOB) oversees IESBA and IAASB activities and the public interest responsiveness of the standards.
