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. […]

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 […]

by Carol A Adams Main points: As formulated, this proposal is not in the public interest; The proposal is not cognisant of current investor and corporate best practice and findings of evidence-based research; A focus on the financial materiality of sustainable development issues is not in the long-term interests of investors, companies, society and governments […]

Main points: Editors of accounting journals that publish research on sustainability accounting and reporting and Professors of Accounting who are key researchers in this field have written to the Chair of the IFRS Foundation Trustees. The letter summarises research relevant to the IFRS Foundation proposals to establish a Sustainability Standards Board. To:         Erkki Liikanen, Chair, […]

By Carol A Adams Main points: The Big 4’s Stakeholder Capitalism and Sustainable Value Creation may do more harm than good. The approach is not informed by the body of relevant academic research nor a conceptual framework. Achieving the SDGs must inform reporting practice Once upon a time there was a glimmer of hope that […]