«Over the past decade or so, corporate reporting has broadened to cover issues not addressed in quarterly or annual GAAP financial reports. At present, such reporting, often called Corporate Sustainability Reports (CSR) or Environmental, Social, & Governance Reports (ESG), is periodic and voluntary. Periodic, because companies can release such information annually, biannually, or whenever management deems it appropriate. Voluntary, because in the United States, except with respect to several specific issues, neither FASB nor the SEC requires extensive ESG disclosures. Of course, many required disclosures (e.g., business risks, executive compensation) are consistent with ESG disclosures. But because such disclosures are not offered as a single, concise, and organized report, many stakeholders argue that such disclosures are less useful than they might prefer.
With the emerging requirements globally for mandatory reporting on sustainability-related information and the related potential for practitioners to provide independent assurance of those reports or of the sustainability metrics and disclosures included in those reports, the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA) has added projects to their formal standards-setting agenda addressing the applicability of the “International Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants” when accountants are associated with preparing such reports or are engaged to provide assurance for such reports. (Exhibit 1 summarizes IESBA’s continuing technical agenda activities related to establishing ethics and independence standards, and guidance in support of transparent, relevant, and trustworthy sustainability reporting.)
In addition, the IESBA staff has published a Q&A document, “Ethics Considerations in Sustainability Reporting Including Guidance to Address Concerns About Greenwashing,” providing guidance to practitioners about the application of the “International Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants (including International Independence Standards)” to many of the ethics-related challenges arising from practitioners’ involvement in sustainability reporting and assurance. In the staff Q&A, particular consideration is given to situations in which the practitioner is associated with preparing and presenting sustainability-related information that might be misleading or false (commonly called “greenwashing”). (...)».
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