Experts advise action and patience on ESG reporting
Environmental social, and governance (ESG) reporting was a key topic at last month’s AICPA & CIMA Conference on Current SEC and PCAOB Developments. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is currently developing its proposed rule on The Enhancement and Standardization of Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors.
With investors calling for better, more comparable, and more useful ESG data, the effects and implementation timeline of standardised sustainability reporting in the US were significant topics of interest during the conference.
Some key takeaways? While change is most certainly in the air for the sustainability reporting and assurance landscape, speakers cautioned that there is a long road ahead until ESG reporting is fully finalised and developed. Panellists encouraged listeners to view ESG reporting as a journey within which disclosures, methods of measurement, and data quality will improve over time.
Here at XBRL International we have been impressed by the speed with which action has been taken on ESG reporting at a global level – we encourage regulators developing standards and disclosure rules to ensure that disclosures are machine-readable to ensure high quality, comparable data from the get-go and continue to encourage patience, collaboration and discovery!
Read a run-down of the conference here.
