The high-level summary is designed to highlight non-assurance services, relationships, interests or circumstances that are prohibited for PIE audits. It will be a valuable reference to stakeholders, including regulators and audit oversight bodies, audit firms and individual audit practitioners, the corporate governance community, investors, preparers, and educational bodies or institutions.

The high-level summary is not a substitute for reading the Code.

Access the press release and the summary on the IESBA’s website.

The GHG Protocol secretariat solicited stakeholder feedback between November 2022 and March 2023 on the use of the Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Accounting and Reporting Standard (the “Scope 3 Standard” or “Standard”) and the Technical Guidance for Calculating Scope 3 Emissions (the “Scope 3 Technical Guidance” or “Technical Guidance”) to understand user needs, identify topics which may warrant updates or guidance, and solicit recommendations for specific updates or new guidance.

Approximately 350 individuals and/or organizations provided responses to the scope 3 survey. In addition to the scope 3 survey, respondents were given the opportunity to submit proposals.

The inclusion of feedback in the summaries does not indicate that a recommendation will be implemented or reflected in updates to either the Scope 3 Standard or Scope 3 Technical Guidance. Instead, the GHG Protocol secretariat and governance bodies are prioritizing which topics to address in the update process, including the scope of work for updates and additional guidance and resources.

According to the draft summary report, any updates will aim to align with best practice approaches to ensure that the GHG Protocol standards for corporate accounting and reporting are effective in providing a rigorous and credible accounting foundation for businesses to measure, plan, and track progress toward science-based and net-zero targets in line with the global 1.5°C goal. Any future updates will seek harmonization and interoperability with accounting rules under development through major disclosure initiatives.

Access the Summary of Scope 3 Proposals and the Detailed Summary of Scope 3 Stakeholder Survey Responses on GHG Protocol’s website.

The proposals in the Exposure Draft respond to stakeholder feedback that reporting on acquisitions poses difficulties for both investors and companies:

• Investors lack sufficient and timely information about acquisitions and post-acquisition performance.
• Companies seek to provide useful information to investors but see risks and costs in providing some information, particularly commercially sensitive information that could be used by competitors.

Stakeholders have expressed concerns regarding the complexity and effectiveness of the impairment test for operations with allocated goodwill. In response, the IASB is proposing amendments to IFRS 3 Business Combinations. These changes would mandate companies to disclose objectives and performance targets of significant acquisitions, along with their subsequent achievements. Additionally, information on expected synergies for all material acquisitions would be required, with safeguards in place to protect sensitive acquisition objectives. The proposed amendments also include targeted improvements to the impairment test under IAS 36 Impairment of Assets.

The IASB is inviting feedback on the Exposure Draft Business Combinations—Disclosures, Goodwill and Impairment by July 15, 2024.

Access the press release and the exposure draft on the IASB’s website.

The package comprises three consultation papers:

• Proposed Criteria for Modification Framework
• Proposed CSDS 1 General Requirements for Disclosure of Sustainability-related Financial Information
• Proposed CSDS 2 Climate-related Disclosures

The proposed Criteria for Modification Framework presents the basis on which the CSSB could introduce changes to the ISSB standards. These criteria ensure that Canadian standards align with international standards while addressing Canadian public interest.

The proposed CSDS 1 and CSDS 2 are based on IFRS S1 and IFRS S2 with the following modifications: 

• The proposed effective dates for CSDS 1 and CSDS 2 have been extended by one year compared to that of IFRS S1 and IFRS S2 (i.e. the proposed standards would become voluntarily effective for annual reporting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2025);
• The proposed transition relief for disclosures beyond climate-related risks and opportunities has been extended from one year to two years;
• The proposed requirements to disclose comparative information have been changed to align with the proposed modification for the transition relief; and
• The proposed transition relief for disclosure of Scope 3 GHG emissions has been extended from one year to two years.

Please click to access the following on the Financial Reporting and Assurance Standards (FRAS) Canada website:

• Press release
• Proposed Criteria for Modification Framework
• Proposed CSDS 1
• Proposed CSDS 2
• In Brief — A plain and simple overview of the recently issued Exposure Drafts

Note: On 10 April 2024, the CSSB offers a webinar on the proposed new standards. Please click for more information here.

For Canadian securities legislation to mandate compliance, the CSSB standards need to be integrated into a CSA rule. Following the completion of the CSSB consultation and standardization, the CSA intends to solicit feedback on a revised rule outlining climate-related disclosure obligations. The proposed CSA rule will align with final CSSB standards, possibly with tailored adjustments for Canadian markets, focusing primarily on provisions relevant to climate disclosures.

The CSA continues to monitor and assess international developments in this area, including the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)’s climate-related disclosures rule approved on March 6, 2024.

Access the press release on the CSA’s website.

It aims to protect fundamental rights, democracy, the rule of law and environmental sustainability from high-risk AI, while boosting innovation and establishing Europe as a leader in the field. The regulation establishes obligations for AI based on its potential risks and level of impact.

The new rules ban certain AI applications that threaten citizens’ rights, including biometric categorization systems based on sensitive characteristics and untargeted scraping of facial images from the internet or CCTV footage to create facial recognition databases.

The regulation is still subject to a final lawyer-linguist check and is expected to be finally adopted before the end of the legislature. The law also needs to be formally endorsed by the Council. It will enter into force twenty days after its publication in the Official Journal and be fully applicable 24 months after its entry into force, except for bans on prohibited practices, which will apply six months after the entry into force date.

Access the press release on the EU’s website.

The final rules reflect the Commission’s efforts to respond to investors’ demand for more consistent, comparable, and reliable information about the financial effects of climate-related risks on a registrant’s operations and how it manages those risks while balancing concerns about mitigating the associated costs of the rules.

According to a fact sheet posted by the SEC, the final rules will require a registrant to disclose, among other things:

• material climate-related risks;
• activities to mitigate or adapt to such risks;
• information about the registrant's board of directors' oversight of climate-related risks and management’s role in managing material climate-related risks; and
• information on any climate-related targets or goals that are material to the registrant's business, results of operations, or financial condition.

In a major change to the proposed rule, the SEC has decided to remove the requirement to disclose Scope 3 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and only require disclosure of Scope 1 and/or Scope 2 GHG emissions on a phased-in basis by certain larger registrants when those emissions are material.

All domestic and foreign registrants, except for asset-backed issuers, must provide the

disclosures. smaller reporting companies (SRCs), emerging growth companies (EGCs), and nonaccelerated filers are exempt from the Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emission disclosure requirements but must provide all other disclosures.

The final rules will become effective 60 days after publication in the Federal Register, and compliance will be phased in from 2025 to 2033.

Access the final rule,  fact sheet and  press release on the SEC’s website.

As per its statement, the CAQ believes that the recent roundtable conducted by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) regarding its proposal on company noncompliance with laws and regulations (NOCLAR) fell short of the principles of transparency and accountability essential for effective public policy development.

“Today’s NOCLAR roundtable was a missed opportunity for the PCAOB to further understand the views highlighted in numerous comment letters from engaged stakeholders,” said Julie Bell Lindsay, Chief Executive Officer, CAQ. “Not only did the roundtable surface disagreement as to the actual scope or intention of the proposal, but we are concerned that the lack of diverse stakeholder representation – particularly from investors and audit committees, two important audiences – resulted in dialogue that did not meaningfully address stakeholder concerns. Given the discussion at the roundtable, we believe that the appropriate response is to re-propose the standard, with an economic analysis, to begin to address these concerns.” 

Access the statement on the CAQ website and the roundtable on the PCAOB’s website.

The series on perspectives papers is now as follows:

• The Case for Realigning Reporting Standards with Modern Value Creation(September 2021)
• Human Capital Introspective(May 2022)
• Rethinking Brand Value(September 2022)
• Deciphering Technology(July 2023)
• Data and Valuation(March 2024)

Access the press release on the IVSC’s website.

One report provides an update on developments in international tax reform, while the other report provides an update on the work of the Inclusive Forum on Carbon Mitigation Approaches (IFMCA).

The report on international tax reform covers the following topics:

• The work on a two-pillar solution to address the tax challenges arising from the digitalization and globalization of the economy.
• The implementation of the BEPSminimum standards
• Tax transparency
• Inequality and progressivity of tax systems
• Tax and development
• Tax and crime
• Indirect tax

The IFCMA brings together government experts in climate, tax, and economic policy from developing, emerging, and developed economies. The report on the IFCMA provides details on its work, membership, governance, and forthcoming deliverables.

Access the news on the Deloitte’s website.