Combat aggressive tax planning by large groups or wealthy individuals at the source, at the precise moment when tax strategies are developed, in the secrecy of companies or consulting, auditing and accounting firms, whether whether the “Big Four” (PwC, Deloitte, KPMG and EY) or smaller entities. This is the objective of the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (Iesba), one of the independent international bodies setting the standards that will be applied by accounting professionals, in the form of laws or codes of conduct adopted by States, and whose action focuses on questions of ethics.
Monday April 15, from its headquarters in New York, Iesba published a new “ethical standard in tax planning”the very first of its kind, intended to hold financial experts involved in arrangements aimed at minimizing the tax owed to States, as much as to protect them from possible legal proceedings.
This is a new field of action for the organization which has previously worked in particular on the independence of accounting professionals, and thus follows in the footsteps of the G20 and the Organization for Cooperation and Development. economic.
“Win the trust of public opinion”
“It is an important standard, which is part of our mission to impose ethics at the heart of this profession and of business decisions, tax planning is also a matter of ethics and responsibility, explains Gabriela Figueiredo Dias, the president of Iesba. Developing ethical standards means participating in the proper functioning of businesses, markets and economies in the collective interest. It’s about gaining public confidence in businesses. »
In fact, Iesba’s approach aims to provide a response to major tax avoidance scandals, such as the “Paradise Papers” of 2017 or the “Pandora Papers” of 2021, these investigations led by the International Consortium of investigative journalists, to whom The world participated, and which showed the responsibility of financial intermediaries.
But it also resonates with current events, marked by the PwC affair in Australia. This scandal, in which PwC partners were accused of leaking information about a government tax reform plan, plunged the Australian branch of the audit giant into turmoil. It demonstrates a need for regulation in the sector.
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