Course Details

This session responds to the growing regulatory and professional focus on how climate-related risks impact audit quality and financial reporting. Since the FRC’s 2020 Climate Thematic Review, expectations have evolved significantly—reinforced by updated guidance such as FRS 102 Climate Fact Sheet 8, the IFRS Foundation’s guidance on climate-related matters, and the release of IFRS S1 and S2, now endorsed in the UK.

 

These developments are part of a wider landscape shift. The UK Met Office, through satellite-based analysis, has confirmed changes in the UK’s climate, including rising temperatures and biodiversity loss. In parallel, the UK government has issued long-term net zero commitments, and regulators have responded with incremental frameworks such as the UK Sustainability Disclosure Requirements (SDR), ISSB standards, and EU CSRD.


Audit professionals are now expected to assess, document, and challenge how climate risks, where material, affect valuations, provisions, and going concern assumptions. This session offers practical tools and real-world examples to help integrate climate-related risks into audit work in a way that is proportionate, effective, and aligned with current guidance

 

In this course Jose Antonio Hopkins and Stephen Pell cover the following topics:

  • Overview of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC)’s role in audit quality oversight
  • Key insights from the FRC’s Audit Quality Inspection and Supervision Report 2023/24
  • Why climate risk is increasingly relevant to audit planning, scoping, and evidence gathering
  • The impact of climate risks on financial statement assertions, including impairment and going concern
  • Best practices and illustrative case studies to strengthen audit methodologies in this area

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CPD Course Speaker

Independent Sustainability Consultant

Jose Antonio Hopkins

I’m a Chartered Accountant, Sustainability Consultant, Lecturer, and Speaker with international experience helping finance and audit teams integrate sustainability and climate risk into business strategy, risk, and reporting, with a strong focus on ISSB, TNFD, UK-CFD, and CSRD readiness.

After senior roles at KPMG and MHA (Baker Tilly UK), I now work independently, supporting businesses to turn sustainability frameworks into practical, credible tools for audit readiness, risk assessments, and long-term value creation. I’ve presented at venues including ExCeL London and the House of Lords, sharing practical insights on climate risk, strategy, and reporting.

Alongside my technical work, I also advocate for wellbeing and high performance in the profession, sharing my own journey of rebuilding energy and resilience through mindset, weightlifting, and cellular health.

neoeco

Stephen Pell

Stephen Pell is the co-founder and CEO of neoeco, and the creator of Financially-integrated Sustainability Management (FiSM)—a new category built to bring sustainability and finance into strategic alignment.

A former Auditor, Chartered Accountant, Chartered Tax Advisor, and two-time Accounting Excellence Award winner, Stephen has spent his career helping businesses make better decisions through better data. After scaling and exiting an award-winning accounting firm, he saw a new problem emerging: sustainability reporting had become a fragmented mess—filled with compliance theatre, disconnected data, and frameworks that failed to support real strategy. He set out to change that.

As a contributor to the ACCA Sustainability Guide, Stephen has helped define how finance teams can lead the sustainability transition—not as box-tickers, but as the truth-tellers and system-fixers modern business demands. He believes accountants and CFOs are uniquely positioned to drive impact, expose harmful practices, and lead with integrity.

With neoeco, Stephen is making sustainability reporting make sense again: simple, strategic, and decision-ready. No fluff. No ESG theatre. Just powerful tools that empower teams to act on what really matters—turning responsibility into competitive advantage.