ICAEW publishes second report on environmental issues and UK annual reporting

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23 Mar, 2015

The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) has published the second edition of its annual report, ‘Environmental issues and UK annual reporting’, which updates the first edition (published in 2009) for changes to environmental regulation and legislation.

The report highlights the increase in legislation and regulation around environmental issues in recent years, summarising changes to UK law as a result of EU legislation, addressing related initiatives which have influenced the development of environmental regulation and legislation and identifying accounting standards that have relevance for environmental issues.

It explains that companies will benefit from having a sound internal information system in place, such as an environmental management system, to capture sufficient data to provide meaningful disclosure about environmental issues affecting the business. In doing so, the report also notes that preparers of annual reports should consider not only investors but other stakeholders who may be important to the business.

The report also considers reporting on environmental issues from the perspective of the auditor, noting that auditors will need to develop sufficient knowledge to be able to understand the environmental issues that could have a significant impact on the financial position and performance of the business, and to be able to form a judgement as to whether those are accounted for and disclosed are consistent with that understanding. In some cases the auditor may need to engage with an external expert to obtain independent advice.

The report can be downloaded from the ICAEW website.

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