The future of mandated sustainability reporting
Mandatory climate-related reporting is rapidly approaching for Australian companies with two new Sustainability Standards to be issued by the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) in June 2023 – IFRS S1 – General Requirements for Disclosure of Sustainability-related Financial Information; and IFRS S2 – Climate-related Disclosures.
These will impact many businesses, even those that are not directly subject to mandatory reporting requirements themselves and are likely to be followed by standards covering a broader range of sustainability topics beyond climate change.
Accounting and finance teams are under pressure to understand the requirements of new and complex reporting obligations, navigate their own materiality assessments to comply with the new standards and address questions from a broader group of stakeholders.
Non-financial disclosures are no less susceptible to error than financial disclosures, and therefore require sophisticated and purpose-built systems to deliver a robust reporting capability and minimise risk of misstatement. Failure to meet the minimum requirements of these new reporting obligations, or making unsubstantiated disclosures that could extend to ‘greenwashing’, both have the potential to expose organisations to avoidable risks of regulator sanctions, financial claims, litigation and reputational damage.
In this webinar tailored for lawyers, John Askham, Partner - CFO Advisory, will guide us through the current state of play in non-financial reporting including the challenges clients are facing in determining their reporting obligations and implementing systems and processes to capture material disclosures. John is joined by Hugo Loneragan, Partner, Forensics, who will explain the role of a forensic accountant in investigations into unsubstantiated disclosures and ‘greenwashing’, as well as how we assist lawyers and their clients in the event of litigation commenced by shareholders, counter-parties and consumers.
