IFAC: IAESB's new standards on content of the professional accounting education programme

17 January 2014

The IAESB has published three IESs: IES 2, Initial Professional Development-Technical Competence; IES 3, Initial Professional Development-Professional Skills; and IES 4, Initial Professional Development-Professional Values, Ethics and Attitudes.

These three IESs will replace the educational requirements of the three extant standards:

IES 2, Content of Professional Accounting Education Programmes;

IES 3, Professional Skills and General Education; and

IES 4, Professional Values, Ethics, and Attitudes.

The content of a professional accounting education programme supports the aspiring accountant in developing the appropriate professional competence. Professional competence is the integration and application of (a) technical competence, (b) professional skills, and (c) professional values, ethics, and attitudes. Each of the new IESs specifies competence areas and learning outcomes that describe the professional competence required of aspiring professional accountants.

These new standards, which are effective from July 1, 2015, aim to assist professional accountancy organisations, as well as educational organisations, employers, regulators, government authorities, and any other stakeholders who support the learning and development of professional accountants.

Highlights of each new IES include:

• IES 2 prescribes the learning outcomes for technical competence that aspiring professional accountants are required to demonstrate by the end of Initial Professional Development (IPD). Technical competence is the ability to apply professional knowledge to perform a role to a defined standard.

• IES 3 prescribes the learning outcomes for professional skills that aspiring professional accountants are required to demonstrate by the end of IPD. Professional skills are the (a) intellectual, (b) interpersonal and communication, (c) personal, and (d) organisational skills that a professional accountant integrates with technical competence and professional values, ethics, and attitudes to demonstrate professional competence.

• IES 4 prescribes the learning outcomes for professional values, ethics, and attitudes that aspiring professional accountants are required to demonstrate by the end of IPD. Professional values, ethics, and attitudes are defined as the behavior and characteristics that identify professional accountants as members of a profession. These include the ethical principles generally associated with, and considered essential in defining, the distinctive characteristics of professional behavior.

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