Leading organizations in public and private company auditing release new esg reporting and attestation roadmap
Feb 17, 2021
On February 17, 2021, the Center for Audit Quality (CAQ) and the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants (the Association) released a new roadmap to provide audit practitioners with a blueprint to support companies in achieving their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reporting goals.
The CAQ and the Association are releasing the report at a watershed moment for public and private companies’ ESG reporting: investors, consumers, and other stakeholders increasingly make decisions based on companies’ ESG practices, companies increasingly report ESG information using established standards and frameworks, and the Biden Administration has made climate risk a focus of its policy agenda.
The roadmap, ESG Reporting and Attestation: A Roadmap for Practitioners, provides tools to help independent auditors inform their clients’ approach to ESG disclosures, help clients determine whether to seek an attestation report on ESG information, and help determine how to report ESG information in a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) submission.
While ESG reporting has historically taken place outside of SEC submissions, there are increasing calls for public companies to incorporate ESG information, including the impact of climate change and diversity and inclusion metrics, into SEC submissions such as proxy statements, annual reports, and quarterly reports. Further, rising expectations for ESG reporting come as many market stakeholders see the value of having some or all reported ESG information subject to external attestation by an independent auditor.
Review the press release on the AICPA's website.
