The International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA) has published a snapshot examining the ethical implications of technology use in the accounting profession, with artificial intelligence (AI) sitting at the centre of the conversation. For Chartered Accountants working across every market and discipline, the message is unambiguous: the tools may be new, but the ethical obligations are not.
The snapshot confirms that the IESBA’s global Code of Ethics applies fully to the use of technology, regardless of the specific tools involved. Its principles-based design means it does not need to be rewritten every time a new platform or capability emerges. Instead, the conceptual framework within the Code provides a consistent, structured method for identifying and managing ethical threats in any context, including those introduced by AI, automation, and other emerging technologies.
IESBA is clear that where professional qualities such as sound judgement, accountability, and strong ethical culture are present, technology can reinforce trust. Where those qualities are absent or underdeveloped, technology amplifies risk and can generate entirely new categories of concern. This is a challenge that belongs to the whole profession, not just to those working in highly digitalised environments.
The global standards body has structured its response to technology-related ethics around three pillars. The first involves keeping the Code fit for purpose through principles-based revisions. The second involves continuous horizon scanning through a standing Technology Expert Group, which is actively monitoring developments in AI and agentic AI, digital assets, cybersecurity, and quantum computing. The third involves practical support for the profession through guidance materials and targeted outreach.
For Chartered Accountants, several specific obligations deserve particular attention. Professional competence now explicitly requires practitioners to understand, explain, and evaluate the technology they use. Relying on unclear or unexplained outputs is not acceptable, and responsibility for those outputs cannot be transferred to a machine. An inquiring mind is now a mandatory requirement when applying the conceptual framework, not an optional disposition.
The Code also names automation bias directly, defining it as the tendency to favour technology-generated outputs even when other information raises questions about their reliability. This is recognised as a threat to objectivity and to the proper exercise of professional judgement. Confidentiality obligations now extend across the full data lifecycle, meaning that using client data to train AI models, for example, requires explicit authorisation and clear boundaries around consent. Independence standards have also been strengthened to address self-review threats and commercial dependencies that can arise when technology is used to deliver professional services to audit or assurance clients.
One area attracting growing concern from IESBA’s Technology Expert Group is the rise of what is being called “shadow AI,” where employees use AI tools independently without organisational approval. This is described as a growing and underappreciated risk across the profession, and one that governance frameworks have yet to adequately address. The group is also tracking agentic AI systems capable of autonomous action and agent-to-agent interaction, raising critical questions about traceability, human oversight, and accountability.
IESBA has indicated that no further changes to the Code are planned for now. The priority is for the 2023 revisions, which became effective in ICAS from 1 January 2025, to be properly adopted and embedded across the profession. Two substantial practical guidance documents are in development: an overarching technology guidance publication planned for the third quarter of 2026, and an AI-specific guidance publication planned for the fourth quarter of 2026. Both are designed to help practitioners apply the Code’s principles to real-world technology scenarios.
For Chartered Accountants worldwide, the significance of this work extends well beyond any single jurisdiction. As AI adoption accelerates across audit, advisory, and finance functions globally, the profession needs a shared ethical foundation that is coherent, durable, and capable of keeping pace with change without constant revision. The IESBA framework, as it stands, is designed to provide exactly that.
Chartered Accountants Worldwide encourages members across the network to engage with the IESBA snapshot, monitor the forthcoming practical guidance, and consider how their own use of technology measures up against the principles the Code sets out. Strong ethical foundations are not a constraint on effective use of technology. They are what makes that use trustworthy.
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Source: https://www.icas.com/news-insights-events/news/ethics/iesba-issues-snapshot-on-the-ethical-implications-of-using-technology-including-ai/
Source institute: ICAS
Content type: article
Hub category: Ethics & Trust
