As companies find that customers and investors are looking for more and more disclosures of what they are doing about environmental issues, climate change risks, and diversity and racial justice, accounting firms are starting to provide assurance and attestation services around environmental, social and governance reporting to meet that growing demand.
While the Big Four have been providing sustainability-related services for years, smaller firms are starting to move cautiously into the space. They are leveraging some of the standards that have been developed by groups like the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board, the Global Reporting Initiative, the International Integrated Reporting Council, the Climate Disclosure Standards Board and the Carbon Disclosure Project. Those groups are currently working on harmonizing their standards and frameworks, laying the groundwork for an international sustainability standards board that the International Financial Reporting Standards Foundation has proposed creating, and which it would oversee alongside the International Accounting Standards Board. To view the full article visit Accounting Today.