For many entities the financial year ended on 30 June and, with 2025 more than halfway through, there are several newly effective standards and amendments that preparers and auditors in both Australia and New Zealand need to be aware of to keep their practices, and their clients’ reporting, compliant.

CA ANZ carefully monitors these changes and recently released its latest Reporting Essentials and Assurance Essentials publications. Here, we detail the key mandatory changes they cover.

Key financial statement reforms now mandatory in Australia and New Zealand

CA ANZ senior policy advocate Jeanette Dawes FCA indicates that most of the key financial reporting changes this year are trans-Tasman.

“However, there is one New Zealand-specific change and that is the need to provide more disaggregated information on the fees paid to auditors,” she says.

Of the trans-Tasman changes, Dawes highlights the revised rules for the classification of current and non-current liabilities, impacting AASB 101/NZ IAS 1 Presentation of Financial Statements (and AASB 1060 General Purpose Financial Statements – Simplified Disclosures for For-Profit and Not-for-Profit Tier 2 Entities).

“These changes were becoming increasingly necessary to provide clarity on how to interpret the requirements about ‘rights to defer settlement’,” says Dawes.

There are also changes that improve the disclosure of supplier financing arrangements, making it easier for users to see just how working capital is being managed.

“This is a change that has responded to user calls for improved information in this area,” says Dawes.

“In addition, new IFRIC agenda decisions clarify the application of IAS 37 to net zero commitments, and the application of IAS 38 to expenditures on carbon credits and research, helping preparers present climate reporting-related information more clearly.”

Dawes also notes that ASIC and the FMA will continue to monitor reporting lodgements for compliance with the standards. Their key areas of focus are measurement of assets, revenue recognition practices, impact of business conditions on the recognition of provisions and subsequent events, and the need for high-quality disclosures.

Key changes to audit and ethical standards in Australia and New Zealand

Melanie Scott FCA, CA ANZ senior policy advocate, says that as in previous years, regulators are focused on issues in areas that require significant judgements and how audit firms are managing quality. With climate risk reporting becoming mandatory, assurance over those disclosures will also be a focus.

There are also changes involving group audit engagements, due to the revision of ASA/ISA (NZ) 600.

“Auditors need to make sure they’ve looked at their engagements to see if there are new groups captured under the revised definition in the standard,” says Scott.

“Along with the changes to the auditing standard for group audits, there are changes to the code of ethics, where the definitions of ‘engagement team’ and ‘group audit’ have been revised, so auditors need to check to see how these impact their audits.”

Country-specific changes to standards

In Australia, there have been revisions to ASAE 3500 Performance Engagements, with the applicability of the standard expanded to clarify its application to both public and private sector not-for-profit organisations.

Reporting requirements have also been revised, and the term ‘materiality’ is replaced by ‘significance’.

The APESB has also revised APES 310 Client Monies, with the changes impacting both firms handling client monies and client monies auditors from 1 April 2025.

ASSA 5000 and ASSA 5010, the standards for sustainability assurance, have also been issued.

Meanwhile, in New Zealand, the revised version of NZ AS 1 is now effective for audits of service performance information. The new standard for reviews of service performance information, NZ SRE 1, has been issued and can be adopted early.

The XRB has also issued ISA (NZ) for LCE, a standalone standard for audits of less complex entities. This standard is available for early adoption ahead of its voluntary effective date of 15 December 2025. 

More EOFY resources

• Sharing Knowledge: Reporting and Audit Essentials Update – June 2025. Log in to access the recording here.

• Q&A: Illustrative financial reports for June 2025. Log in to access the Q&A here.