Corporate Reporting to Stakeholders - An Overview

The Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA) annual Corporate Reporting Awards (CRA) is a program that honours excellence in financial reporting, corporate governance disclosure, electronic disclosure and sustainable development reporting. This high profile event is now in its 57th year. Supporting the CRA, the CICA Research Studies Department examines all aspects of corporate reporting and documents findings in detailed, thoughtful publications. For an overview of the recent study, Corporate Reporting to Stakeholders, refer to the Q4 Blog posting, CICA’s Corporate Reporting research documents highly valuable to IROs. (For a list of other recent publications, see the CICA website section on Performance Reporting).

Accounting for greenhouse gas emissions

For several decades, the environmental, economic and health effects from greenhouse gases (GHG) have been closely studied and debated by the scientific community, regulatory authorities and other diverse groups. GHGs are emitted into the atmosphere mainly as a by-product of waste disposal and the burning of fossil fuels by individuals, households and businesses. Of the six principal types of GHGs, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that carbon dioxide (CO2) makes up 85% of these emissions in the United States. Because GHGs can trap the sun’s heat in the Earth’s atmosphere, many scientists have targeted them as a leading cause of global warming.

A recent article introduces practitioners to the fundamental accounting issues concerning emissions of GHGs. The key elements of “cap and trade” programs are discussed since they are the predominant market mechanism employed globally to limit GHG emissions. The article also examines attempts by standard setters to fill the void in the authoritative accounting guidance in this area and the consequences of the diverse accounting practices that have emerged globally.

(Read the article Accounting for Emissions in the Journal of Accountancy Online.)

IAESB proposes education work plan

The International Accounting Education Standards Board (IAESB) has invited organizations and individuals with an interest in accounting education to comment on its proposed 2010-2012 Strategy and Work Plan. The proposed strategy focuses on projects and activities aimed at developing International Education Standards (IES), while providing adoption and implementation guidance to interested stakeholders in accounting education. The work program contains a number of potential projects for consideration. Comments are requested by October 5, 2009. (Read the IAESB Press Release and download the IAESB exposure draft.)

FASB initiates project on useful, organized and consistent disclosures

Robert H. Herz, chairman of the United States Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) has announced the addition of a new FASB agenda project aimed at establishing an overarching framework to make financial statement disclosures more effective, coordinated and less redundant. The project was added in response to requests and recommendations from constituents including the Investors Technical Advisory Committee and the SEC Advisory Committee on Improvements to Financial Reporting. (Read the FASB Press Release.

Global Accounting Groups Commit to Sustainability Practices

The Prince of Wales’ Accounting for Sustainability Forum has announced that its 16 global accounting body members have signed the Forum’s five sustainability principles. The forum claims this is the first time that a global group of accounting bodies has committed to a set of sustainability principles. Those principles promote “connected reporting” — reporting that connects an organization’s sustainability impacts with its financial performance more clearly and consistently — and commits participants to collaborative research and training in this area. The signatories include the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA) and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). (Read the online article at Environmental Leader.)