We’ve looked recently at several initiatives to reduce disclosure and compliance obligations for smaller public companies. SEC Chair Paul Atkins returned to the topic in a recent speech: We can no doubt expect some rule-making on that front soon. Getting in on the act, the UK government recently issued a statement: Regulation Action Plan Update,…
I came across a fascinating posting on X (or tweet, as I still call them): That’s from an individual in Nigeria posting as “Elijah” (@EJAkerele), whose timeline suggests an interest in extracting life lessons from financial and related matters (as well as in soccer and other sundry matters). I’ll lay on the table that I’m…
Is the SEC regulating for a pre-AI world? asks the CFA Institute’s Sandy Peters. That’s in an excellent recent article on cfo.com. Here are some extracts: The article provides ample evidence of Atkins’ penchant for sloganeering and lack of intellectual rigour: As we covered here, Atkins has also been taking shots at the IFRS Foundation,…
Canada’s audit regulator, the Canadian Public Accountability Board, recently published its first individual firm inspection reports. This is how the news release put it: The media pounced on the information, with Canadian Accountant contriving the silly headline that “Deloitte Canada comes out on top,” as if CPAB were scoring a weekend golf tournament. This is…
As we addressed here, Investors for Paris Compliance recently issued the report Accounting for the Canadian Oil & Gas Liabilities Gap. We looked last time at some of the report’s observations on financial statement disclosure. Another of its findings is “a potential massive overall liability gap based on a leaked Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) estimate…
The UK’s Financial Reporting Council recently issued the results of a thematic review on Reporting by the UK’s smaller listed companies. The review consisted of “a desktop review of 20 companies with year-ends between September 2024 and April 2025 operating in a range of market sectors.” These are the main findings noted: The FRC also…
The IASB has issued Amendments to the Fair Value Option for Investments in Associates and Joint Ventures, an exposure draft of proposed amendments to IAS 28, with comments to be received by April 20, 2026. Paragraphs 18–19 of IAS 28 permit an entity to elect to measure an investment in an associate or a joint…
Social Value International has launched a Global Survey on Investors’ Expectations of Company Accounts The survey explores “whether information reported in company accounts reflects the expectations of those who use them.” It’s open to “anyone whose financial decisions or future income may be affected by how companies perform.” As the news release puts it: The…
Investors for Paris Compliance recently issued the report Accounting for the Canadian Oil & Gas Liabilities Gap. The organization is “a shareholder advocacy organization that works to hold Canadian publicly-listed companies accountable to their net zero commitments.” The report concludes: The report examined the 15 largest Canadian oil and gas producers in this respect, finding:…
On the Forbes.com website, Ioannis Ioannou, Associate Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship at London Business School, delivered a thoughtful and balanced assessment of the current state of ESG. Here are some extracts: Ioannou concludes: “What’s needed is a deeper recalibration. A shift away from ESG as a branding exercise, and toward ESG as a form…
Should Data Appear on Corporate Balance Sheets? asked the title of a recent Fortune article. It’s written by Shivaram Rajgopal. Here are some extracts: I’m not sure that even constitutes a rubber bullet, given that the “what gets measured gets managed” cliché ran out of steam a long time ago. In that regard, the article…
SEC Commissioner Mark T. Uyeda recently delivered some remarks at the 53rd Annual Securities Regulation Institute: He noted: Here’s one of those areas: This all sounds much aligned with Canadian regulatory rhetoric over the years. For example, quite recently, in proposing that a certain population of companies be allowed to move from quarterly to semi-annual…
As part of its activities, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) organizes a forum of enforcers from 38 different European jurisdictions, all of whom carry out monitoring and review programs similar to those carried out here by the Canadian Securities Administrators. ESMA a while ago published some extracts from its confidential database of enforcement…
The upcoming IFRS 18 requires an entity to classify income and expenses included in the statement of profit or loss in one of five categories: operating, investing, financing, income taxes and discontinued operations. The income taxes category includes tax expense or tax income that is included in the statement of profit or loss applying IAS…
The New York Times recently reported that “that the S.E.C. had eased up on more than 60 percent of the crypto cases that were ongoing when Mr. Trump returned to the White House, moving to pause litigation, lessen penalties or outright dismiss the cases.” It found: “The S.E.C., the top federal regulator that polices wrongdoing…
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