Sustainability
The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) will start work in early 2022, the IFRS Foundation Trustees announced at the UN’s COP26 climate change meeting in Glasgow, Scotland. By June 2022, the new body will incorporate the work of the Climate Disclosure Standards Board (CDSB) and the Value Reporting Foundation (VRF), which itself includes the Integrated Reporting Framework and the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB). The IFRS trustees have also amended the constitution to take account of the ISSB.
Prototype climate and general disclosure requirements have been released by the IFRS trustees’ Technical Readiness Working Group, which has been undertaking preparatory work for the ISSB. These include detailed guidance on how business sectors should measure their environmental and social impact, from consumer goods and extractive industries to service sectors, financial institutions and more.
The Impact Management Platform has been launched by international sustainability standards groups, which aims to ensure that businesses are environmentally and socially sustainable. The platform has released a web-based tool that outlines the core actions of impact management and links to resources helping organisations and investors implement these techniques. Partners include the CDSB, the Global Reporting Initiative, the Global Impact Investing Network and the VRF.
The CDSB has released guidance on six biodiversity issues that corporates should assess in their sustainability reports. These address spatial and time dimensions; how nature is multi-faceted and interconnected; how companies promote biodiversity, including how they collaborate with partners; and measurement methodologies. More details are due to be released by the end of the year.
The European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) has asked for European, national and non-governmental organisations involved in sustainability reporting for feedback on plans to reform its governance, reflecting that it will become a formal adviser to the European Commission on the topic. EFRAG will expand the membership of its general assembly as a result, and wants to explore which organisations are interested in participating.
EFRAG has also released a progress report on its development of draft EU sustainability reporting standards, saying that public consultation on proposals is expected to start in early 2022.
SMEs
The International Federation of Accountants and the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) have released an online survey to aid the development of a standard for audits of financial statements of less complex entities.
Public sector
The IAASB and the International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB) have released a fully digital version of their guidance, offering optimised search functions, cut-and-paste capabilities and user-friendly navigation.
The IPSASB has released guidance on the IPSAS 5 standard on accounting for borrowing costs, adding implementation guidance and examples of how the existing principles for when borrowing costs can be capitalised can be applied.
Ethics
The International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA) has announced that the eCode – a digital tool for accessing and navigating the International Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants – will be moving to the eIS, or e-International Standards, platform. eIS is a web-based platform that provides electronic access to the authoritative standards developed by the IESBA, the IAASB and the IPSASB.
Derivatives
The International Organization of Securities Commissions is consulting on proposed revisions to its 2011 principles for the regulation and supervision of the commodity derivatives markets. The changes are designed to ensure that commodity derivatives markets continue to facilitate price discovery and hedging, while deterring manipulation and abusive practices.
Regulated entities
IOSCO has also updated its guidance for regulated entities that outsource tasks to securities service providers, expanding their application to trading venues, intermediaries market participants acting on a proprietary basis and credit rating agencies.
