2018

New report: Execs say blockchain adoption has been “harder than expected”

Oct 11, 2018

On October 11, 2018, Forbes published an article on how according to a report released by consulting firm Greenwich Associates, 57% of executives polled said that implementing distributed ledger technology (DLT) at the enterprise level has been harder than expected.

The report is based on data collected from more than 200 executives working on blockchain initiatives at banks, technology vendors, dedicated blockchain companies, exchanges, and consultancy firms, among others.

In the report, 42% of firms identified scalability, which refers to a network's ability to process a high volume of transactions at high speeds, as a "major issue."

Review the article on Forbes' website and the report on Greenwich Associates' website.

Overcoming 3 Roadblocks to Strategic Resource Allocation

Feb 28, 2018

On February 28, 2018, FEI Daily published an article on how the highest corporate priority is to create long-term value, which requires resources be allocated to businesses, products and customers that can deliver profitable growth.

Corporate success often falters due to sub-optimal Strategic Resource Allocation (SRA), which includes the allocation of capital, marketing and R&D across existing businesses, which will be covered herein, but also acquisitions, debt repayment, dividends and buybacks.

Review the full article on FEI Daily's website.

Purpose Beyond Profit: The Value of Value – Board-level Insights

Feb 28, 2018

In February 2018, the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) released the results of a survey of executives from across the globe that seeks to understand trends and challenges in measuring, disclosing and understanding the value that companies create.

In the survey, 96% of respondents agree that bringing financial and non-financial information together provides a more forward-looking, longer-term view of performance.

Executives globally agree on the increasing benefit of understanding and communicating the value creation potential of their organizations to build relationships with stakeholders and improve integrated thinking and strategic decision-making.

But the latest Purpose Beyond Profit: The Value of Value – Board-level Insights survey shows executives lack the management and reporting information to understand and interpret the future drivers of their business.

Review the report on the IIRC's website.

Ready or not: Are companies prepared for the TCFD recommendations?

Mar 19, 2018

On March 19, 2018, the Climate Disclosure Standards Board (CDSB) and the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) released a report on research into 1,681 companies across 14 countries and 11 sectors that shows that there is a gap between the way companies identify climate-related risks and opportunities and how they are preparing to tackle them.

The vast majority of companies acknowledge that climate change poses financial risks for their business with 83% of companies recognizing the physical risks, and 88% identifying policy changes/new regulations as the main risks of transitioning to a low-carbon economy.

But when it comes to turning awareness into action, there is still a disconnect in many sectors and countries. For instance, more than 8 in 10 companies oversee climate change at the board level, but only 1 in 10 provides incentives for the management of climate change issues.

Review the press release and the report on the CDP's website.

Recent SEC Settlement is Cautionary Tale for Canadian Public Issuers on Disclosure of Cyberincidents and Related Risks

May 15, 2018

On May 15, 2018, McCarthy Tetrault LLP published an article on how the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) first enforcement action against a public issuer for failure to make timely disclosure of cyberincidents may be a wake-up call for Canadian public issuers and their directors and officers.

On April 24, 2018, the SEC announced that Altaba Inc. had agreed to pay a USD$35 million penalty to settle disclosure charges relating to a December 2014 cyberincident. Altaba settled without admitting or denying any wrongdoing. Among other things, the SEC settlement noted:

  • Altaba failed to properly investigate the circumstances of the breach.
  • Altaba did not share information regarding the breach with its auditors or outside counsel in order to assess the company’s disclosure obligations in its public filings.
  • Altaba did not include information regarding the breach in its quarterly or annual public filings in 2015 or 2016 even though it learned that cyberattack attempts by the same hackers continued.

Review the full article on McCarthy Tetrault's website.

Reconciling Blockchain Theory With Accounting Reality

Jan 28, 2018

On January 28, 2018, Financial Executives International (FEI) posted an article on how the fervor around Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies and the underlying blockchain technology is hitting new highs and lows. But despite the fervor of blockchain enthusiasts seeking to apply the technology to financial reporting and completely disrupting corporate disclosures, there are significant hurdles that sit at the core of modern accounting practice and audit methodology.

Accounting standard setters have the cryptocurrencies on their radar, if not the accounting implications of blockchain in particular. This past summer the Financial Accounting Standard Board (FASB) received a request from The Chamber of Digital Commerce to add a project around accounting for digital currencies to its Emerging Issues Task Force agenda.

Review the full article on FEI's website.

Reporting matters study sees promising step towards more robust reporting on global issues

Oct 23, 2018

On October 23, 2018, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) released its 2018 edition of Reporting matters, annual review of member companies’ sustainability and integrated reports.

This year’s report aims to show how companies are linking reporting and decision-making through three topic-specific addendum reports focused on climate change, water and human rights.

Key findings from Reporting matters 2018

The main Reporting matters publication continues to provide good-practice examples as well as general trends and benchmarks over the past five years. This is particularly useful to business because insights can be shared across sectors for collective improvement.

Highlights include:

Reporting is improving

  • 82% of member companies in our benchmark have improved their overall scores since baseline year 2014; 37% have improved their materiality score in this timespan.

The state of SDG reporting

  • 89% of reports reviewed acknowledge the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in some way; 53% map their sustainability strategy to relevant SDGs and provide some evidence of activities.

The state of integrated reporting

  • 33% of reports reviewed combine financial and non-financial information, up from 22% in 2014; 18% are self-declared integrated reports.

The state of GRI reporting

  • 83% of reports reviewed reference the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI); 54% have already transitioned to the GRI Standards launched in October 2016.

Governance is improving

  • 39% of the 115 companies in our sample with ESG data on Bloomberg Terminals have links between sustainability performance and executive remuneration.

The future is digital

  • Only 20% of reports reviewed provide a digital-first experience; but 53% of member companies include the bulk of their report content online to complement their PDF report (2017: 44%).

Review the press release and report on the WBCSD's website.

Reviewing Canada's Anti-Money Laundering And Anti-Terrorist Financing Regime

Feb 07, 2018

On February 7, 2018, the Canadian Department of Finance (the Department) released a consultation document entitled "Reviewing Canada's Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorist Financing Regime". The Act requires that a committee of Parliament review the administration and operation of the Act every five years.

The Department notes that a Mutual Evaluation report by the Financial Action Task Force ("FATF") found that Canada has strong anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing legislation and regulations, but noted there are several areas where action could be taken to ensure the framework meets technical standards and is even more effective.

Review the publication on the Department's website.

SASB issues industry-specific sustainability accounting standards

Nov 07, 2018

On November 7, 2018, the US Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) issued the world's first set of industry-specific sustainability accounting standards covering financially material issues in 77 industries. The standards aim at providing investors with in-depth information about the impact of a company’s actions on society and the environment - they come at a time of increased investor concern about companies' business practices.

What makes the standards unique in the marketplace is their focus on industry specificity and financial materiality. By addressing the subset of sustainability factors most likely to have financially material impacts on the typical company in an industry, SASB’s industry-specific standards help investors and companies make more informed decisions. They are global in nature and contain concepts that are important for investors and businesses around the world.

The release marks a six-year effort by the SASB. Over the course of those six years, the SASB released several sets of provisional standards for different industries, which have already been used by companies around the world. The SASB standards can be used alongside other sustainability frameworks and are well-aligned with the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and are complementary to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI).

Review the press release and download the standards on the SASB's website.

SEC Issues Cybersecurity Guidance

Apr 27, 2018

On April 27, 2018, the Deloitte portal of the Wall Street Journal published an overview of the SEC’s views on cybersecurity disclosure requirements and procedures under the federal securities laws as articulated in the cybersecurity interpretive guidance.

The overview also compares how the release affects the SEC staff guidance issued in 2011.

The SEC acknowledged that it does not expect a company’s disclosures to provide a level of detail that could compromise its cybersecurity efforts and that there may be limited information available in the early stages of a cybersecurity incident investigation. Nevertheless, the SEC emphasized that as information becomes available, registrants are responsible for disclosing appropriate information to keep investors informed and must balance the need for timely disclosure with the level of detail they can provide about such incidents. While cooperation with law enforcement during an ongoing investigation of a material cybersecurity incident may be necessary and may affect the scope of disclosure, it would not alone provide a basis for omitting material disclosures.

Review the overview on the Wall Street Journal's website.

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