The NZ Regulatory Board (Regulatory Board) of New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants (NZICA) has approved changes to the NZICA Code of Ethics (NZICA Code) that will apply to New Zealand resident members of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CA ANZ) and all other practitioners subject to NZICA jurisdiction effective from 15 December 2026 (early adoption permitted).

The changes update the NZICA Code to:

• Incorporate recent amendments made by the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA) to the International Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants (including International Independence Standards) (IESBA Code) as reflected in:
  • Final Pronouncement: International Ethics Standards for Sustainability Assurance (including International Independence Standards) and Other Revisions to the Code Relating to Sustainability Assurance and Reporting, published by the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) in January 2025 (Sustainability Project).
  • Final Pronouncement: Revisions to the Code Addressing Using the Work of an External Expert, published by IFAC in January 2025 (Use of Experts project).
• Align with amendments made by the New Zealand Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (NZAuASB) to Professional and Ethical Standard 1, International Ethics Standards for Assurance Practitioners (including International Independence Standards) (New Zealand) (PES 1) because of those amendments to the IESBA Code.

Overview of changes

All members

Members should note that some changes from both the Sustainability and the Use of Experts projects might affect areas beyond sustainability reporting and assurance. Notably, proposed Use of Experts changes will apply to all situations where members use specialist advice from an external expert in their work (for example, tax and valuation advice).

Sustainability project

The Sustainability project concluded that existing parts 1 (complying with the code, fundamental principles and conceptual framework), 2 (professional accountants in business) and 3 (professional accountants in public practice) of the IESBA Code already address ethical issues that might arise in both financial and non-financial reporting, including sustainability reporting issues such as “greenwashing.”

The most substantive changes made to the NZICA Code arising from the Sustainability project are to section 220 (preparation and presentation of information) to clarify and extend its scope to fully capture all financial and non-financial reporting situations (i.e. to eliminate potential grey areas in interpretation). A new definition of “sustainability information” is also added to the glossary.

Other changes to parts 1, 2 and 3 arising from the Sustainability project are confined to:

• Updated wording to clarify that a specific requirement and/or guidance material applies to both financial and non-financial information.
• Addition of sustainability examples to guidance materials.
• Minor consequential and conforming amendments to incorporate the existence of new Part 5 (International Ethics Standards for Sustainability Assurance (including International Independence Standards) – see below) into parts 1, 2, and 3 to align with PES 1.

Use of Experts project

The changes – consistent with IESBA’s Use of Experts project - add two new sections to the NZICA Code:

• Section 290 – for members in business (MIB) who use the work of external experts in performing their professional activities.
• Section 390 – for members in public practice (MIPP) who use the work of external experts in providing their professional services (not including assurance only paragraphs –see below).

An “external expert” is defined as an “expert” engaged by a member, member’s employing organisation or firm, where an “expert” is defined as an individual possessing “expertise” that is outside the member’s competence and, in turn, “expertise” is defined as skills, knowledge and experience in a particular field.

Where a member’s activities/services are captured by the new sections, the member will be subject to certain new prescriptive requirements – in addition to complying with other applicable provisions of the NZICA Code – including, requiring members to:

• Agree terms of engagement with the external expert.
• Evaluate the external expert’s competence, capabilities and objectivity (CCO) (guidance material is provided to assist members with this evaluation).
• Re-evaluate this evaluation for new information or changes in facts and circumstances.
• Not use the work of an external expert who does not possess necessary CCO.

The new sections also include guidance material regarding:

• Potential threats to the fundamental principles arising from the use of external experts.
• Evaluating external experts in emerging fields or areas.
• Communicating with management and those charged with governance about the use of experts.
• Documentation that should be kept.

Minor consequential and conforming amendments have also been made to sections 120, 220, 230, 280, 320, 380 to integrate new sections 290, 390, and 5390 (see below) and the new definition of “expertise” into existing material in the NZICA Code.

Assurance practitioners

Members who are assurance practitioners are required to comply with both PES 1 and the NZICA Code. To assist these members, NZICA aligns with the XRB (including NZAuASB) but does not replicate changes to the IESBA Code related only to audit, review, other assurance engagements and related services in the NZICA Code; instead, members are directed to the equivalent paragraphs in PES 1. Currently, this practice impacts certain paragraphs in section 360 (non-compliance with laws and regulations) and parts 4A and 4B (International Independence Standards (New Zealand)) of the Code. This practice now also applies to new assurance only paragraphs in section 390 and new Part 5 (including section 5390) – see below.

Sustainability project

As part of the Sustainability Project, IESBA also approved amendments to paragraphs 360.18 A1 – 360.19 and sections 400, 410 and 540 of Part 4A and section 900 of Part 4B of the IESBA Code and introduced a new Part 5 (International Ethics Standards for Sustainability Assurance (including International Independence Standards)).

New part 5 is a set of ethics and independence standards for use and implementation by all sustainability assurance practitioners, which generally restates relevant requirements and guidance material from the existing IESBA Code in profession agnostic language and with a focus on sustainability.

In March 2026, the NZAuASB issued a new version of PES-1 that incorporates the changes arising from the Sustainability project. These amendments to PES 1 are generally effective for accounting periods commencing on or after 15 December 2026 (early adoption allowed). Assurance practitioners should refer to the XRB website for further information about these proposed changes.

Use of Experts project

As part of the Use of Experts project, IESBA also approved new:

• Paragraphs R390.11 A1 – 390.18 A4, R390.20, 390.21A1 and R390.28, which impose more specific requirements regarding the information that assurance practitioners must obtain from external experts to conclude on their CCO (including documentation that must be kept).
• Section 5390, which provides new profession agnostics rules on use of experts for sustainability assurance practitioners.

The new version of PES-1 described above also incorporates the changes arising from the Use of Experts project. These amendments to PES 1 are generally effective for accounting periods commencing on or after 15 December 2026 (early adoption allowed). Assurance practitioners should refer to the XRB website for further information about these changes.

Further information

Members should refer to the Invitation to Comment (ITC) (see below) for more details of how these amendments impact the NZICA Code.

An overview of limited format and editorial amendments made by the Regulatory Board when finalising the updated NZICA Code can be found in the Management Report (see below).

Submissions / Approvals process

16 February 2026	Invitation for submissions on Exposure Draft 2026-1: Proposed 2026 Update to NZICA Code of Ethics – Sustainability and Use of Experts (ED 2026-1) issued.
18 May 2026	Submissions on ED 2026-1 were due.
9 June 2026	Regulatory Board met to consider submissions and Management’s report on the submissions. Regulatory Board finalised the NZICA Code of Ethics 2026.
29 June 2026	Date for issue of NZICA Code of Ethics 2026. It is published on this page, together with a copy of Management’s report and the submissions received.
15 December 2026	Effective date of NZICA Code of Ethics 2026.