The volume of commentary on ESG-related matters seems to grow by the day… An article by Barbara Shecter in Canada’s Financial Post considered whether pension funds have a legal obligation to consider climate change when investing. Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), an international group backed by some of Canada’s largest pension funds, thinks so: The…

How Can We Make Accounting Cool? asked a recent Wall Street Journal article It’s written by Joe Queenan. Here are some extracts: Unfortunately, albeit understandably, Queenan’s diagnosis of the problem is much more convincing than that of the solution. The suggestions that films like Ben Affleck’s The Accountant “certainly help,” or that much would be…

Here’s an extract from the January 2023 IASB Update: The exemption referred to in the second item refers back to the September 2022 meeting, at which the IASB tentatively decided to propose an exemption in specific circumstances that would permit an entity not to disclose information about management’s objectives for a business combination; the metrics…

I’ve owned several Sonos speakers for a few years… …but I’m not any kind of Sonos stakeholder beyond that. I receive a regular stream of promotional emails from them, most of which contain little to grab the attention, but I did stop at a recent one announcing its “Listen Better Report 2022,” with the capsule…

Here’s the background to another issue recently discussed by CPA Canada’s IFRS Discussion Group: The group discussed a few issues relating to whether ESG features affect the issuer’s accounting for such green bonds measured at amortized cost, including whether those features should be separated and accounted for as derivatives. Recall that the definition of a…

Conrad Black’s one-time globe-spanning profile has faded in recent years… His Canadian visibility now is mostly confined to his regular opinion column in the National Post, notable for its style-challenged unreadability and for its barely qualified assessment of Donald Trump as a great American President (“ Is there any sane person who in the dark and…

Should accountants worry about cryptocurrencies? asks a recent edition of ICAEW Insights. The article asked a few questions of “crypto entrepreneur” Mark Basa, whose comments include the following: Academic Ross Thompson also contributed some perspective: Despite their differences, the two commentators have in common an inclination toward special pleading. Basa’s commentary is only an extension…

As we’ve addressed many times, the International Sustainability Standards Board has issued its first two exposure drafts, General Sustainability-related Disclosures (S1) and Climate-related Disclosures (S2), which were both open for comment until July 29, 2022. Last time we looked at some reaction to the following proposal in S2: Let’s continue with that today. Some respondents…

As we’ve addressed many times, the International Sustainability Standards Board has issued its first two exposure drafts, General Sustainability-related Disclosures (S1) and Climate-related Disclosures (S2), which were both open for comment until July 29, 2022. A key aspect of the S2 document is the following proposed requirement: The document defines climate-related scenario analysis as “a…

“IASB proposes temporary relief from deferred tax accounting for OECD Pillar Two taxes,” announced a recent release Here are some extracts: On the latter point, the rules apply a system of top-up taxes that results in the total amount of taxes payable on excess profit in each jurisdiction representing at least the minimum rate of…