by Carol A Adams and Frank Mueller, Professors at Durham University Business School This article was first published in Accounting Today. When the IFRS Foundation Trustees put out their Consultation Paper on Sustainability Reporting, the accounting scientific community responded in unusually high numbers. This reflects the lack of alignment of the proposals with the academic research […]
Academics at odds with the IFRS Foundation Trustees on sustainability reporting
Posted on May 31, 2022 · 1 Comment
Responses to the IFRS Foundation and ISSB’s first Exposure Draft
Posted on May 21, 2022 · 2 Comments
by Carol A Adams Main points: The conceptual framing in proposed IFRS S1 remains muddled Considerable judgement is required on matters that are understood differently Analysis shows that accounting academics were opposed to the IFRS Foundation Trustees’ proposals on sustainability reporting Three academic papers on global approaches to sustainability reporting have been made available free […]
My response to the IASB’s Exposure Draft on the Management Commentary Practice Statement
Posted on August 10, 2021 · 2 Comments
To: Andreas Barckow, Chair, International Accounting Standards Board Comment letter on the Exposure Draft on the Management Commentary Practice Statement I appreciate the opportunity to provide feedback on the Exposure Draft. I have been following developments and evidence provided to the IASB in Board papers in connection with this revision over several years. Over that […]
Towards a conceptual framework for non-financial reporting inclusive of pandemic and climate risk reporting
Posted on July 17, 2021 · 1 Comment
by Subhash Abhayawansa and Carol A Adams Abstract/summary This paper evaluates non-financial reporting (NFR) frameworks insofar as risk reporting is concerned. This is facilitated through analysis of the adequacy of climate- and pandemic-related risk reporting in three industries that are both significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and at risk from climate change. The pervasiveness […]
We studied the world’s top airlines and hospitality firms – many are still poor at reporting risks around climate and pandemics
Posted on July 15, 2021 · 1 Comment
Carol A Adams, Durham University and Subhash Abhayawansa, Swinburne University of Technology Many UK companies will have to make statements about the risks of climate change to their businesses under new proposals being put forward by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). So-called “premium-listed” companies that follow the highest regulatory standards are already having to make […]
A prototype climate disclosure standard with a flawed conceptual framework
Posted on January 17, 2021 · 3 Comments
by Carol A Adams At the end of 2020 various organisations jointly released a ‘prototype’ climate-related financial disclosure standard cobbled together in some haste from existing offerings. Whilst anyone familiar with TCFD, integrated reporting and GRI Standards is likely to be favourably disposed to the proposed reporting requirements, the conceptual framework underpinning them is flawed. […]
Sustainable development is too important for self-interest and political posturing
Posted on December 17, 2020 · 1 Comment
by Carol A Adams and Charles H Cho In their Green Paper Richard Barker and Robert Eccles claim to contribute, in a “neutral way”, to the ongoing debate on sustainability reporting standards and who should set them. We are not neutral. We believe that sustainable development issues are urgent, complex and that they present an […]
Next the Impact Foundation?
Posted on November 27, 2020 · 2 Comments
by Carol A Adams Main points: You can talk about impact on sustainable development without talking about value BUT you can’t talk about value creation without knowing your impact If we don’t achieve the SDGs there won’t be any “enterprise value creation” Sustainable development issues have “synergies” with people and planet – not financial statements […]
Sustainability reporting and value creation
Posted on November 27, 2020 · Leave a Comment
by Carol A Adams “…it would seem that the very tenets of the kind of society in which financial accounting plays a starring role are grounded in injustice masquerading as decency” Rob Gray (Gray 2006 p797) Abstract This paper revisits Rob Gray’s (Gray, 2006) critique of the state of sustainability reporting and its relationship with […]
JSE event: Towards Common Reporting Standards: Will it help achieve the aims of sustainable development?
Posted on November 4, 2020 · 1 Comment
Chief Sustainability Officer at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), Shameela Ebrahim, posed some very pertinent questions when we kicked of the JSE’s annual sustainability show case earlier today. Her questions were: Why so many standards and what are the various standards meant to achieve? How directly relevant are they to achieving the aims of sustainable […]
