One of the many challenging aspects of standard-setting is the fine-tuning of a standard’s scope and application: that is, to what degree and under what circumstances affected entities should be given a break from some of the requirements. This is from the basis for conclusions to IFRS S1 General Requirements for Disclosure of Sustainability-related Financial Information :…

As I’ve noted before, one of my bigger regrets is the time I spent on the cause of executive compensation disclosure, pretty much all of which was wasted: As I put it here nine years ago: Nothing has happened since then to change that assessment: you might conclude that companies actually take comfort in grossly…

I recently observed that “the term ‘trust’ is almost a mandated component of any CPA ‘thought leadership’ publication,” and that started me thinking about just how much so-called ‘thought leadership’ is out there. And then the Ontario Securities Commission published Insights on the OSC Staff’s Approach to Sustainable Finance   a publication that “builds on the work…

For the first time ever on this blog, here’s a link to Fox Business: At the time of that 2018 tweet, I opined on how “toxic Trumpian chaos slowly infects everything, whether or not in his direct line of fire,” and concluded: “The broader implications of this toxicity are so horrific that at this point,…

Here’s a recent news release from the shareholder advocacy organization Investors for Paris Compliance (I4PC): The reference to Bill C-59 reflects a recent strengthening of the Competition Act, to specifically prohibit ““[making] a representation to the public with respect to the benefits of a business or business activity for protecting or restoring the environment or…

As we discussed here, the IASB has issued a revised Practice Statement on management commentary.  One of the six specified “areas of content” to be included in such a commentary relates to an entity’s “business model,” defined as follows: Not too surprisingly, that’s somewhat fancier language than one often finds in definitions or explanations of…

Anyone who doubts the depth of Trump-era antipathy toward climate-related disclosure might check out the keynote address delivered by SEC Chair Paul Atkins at the Inaugural OECD Roundtable on Global Financial Markets. Here’s an extract: Atkins then goes on to take shots at the “double materiality” regulatory approach promoted under recently passed EU laws: Bloomberg…

A recent article looked at How Directors’ Past Experiences Shape Corporate Climate Policies. It’s written by Sehoon Kim, Bernadette A. Minton and Rohan Williamson, based on their academic research into the premise “that salient and adverse past experiences, such as witnessing the destruction and suffering caused by major natural disasters, can mold individuals’ prosocial preferences.…

The IASB last year issued Climate-related and Other Uncertainties in the Financial Statements, an exposure draft of proposed illustrative examples. The exposure draft proposed “eight examples illustrating how an entity applies the requirements in IFRS Accounting Standards to report the effects of climate-related and other uncertainties in its financial statements (in the expectation) that these…

The retailer WH Smith PLC includes the following accounting policy in its financial statements: Against that backdrop, here’s a recent news release from the company: As reported by BBC News: Accounting Web tried to flesh out the story a bit: It seems that the references to spreadsheets and manual journals and the like are based…