Assessing financial statement materiality of climate-related and other emerging risks
13 Dec, 2018
The Australian Accounting Standards Board (AASB) has published 'Climate-related and other emerging risks disclosures: assessing financial statement materiality using AASB Practice Statement 2'.
The publication argues that climate-related risks and other emerging risks are currently predominantly discussed outside the financial statements, if at all, while qualitative external factors such as the industry in which the entity operates, and investor expectations may make such risks ‘material’ and warrant disclosures when preparing financial statements, regardless of their numerical impact. It also notes investor statements on the importance of climate-related risks to their decision making so that entities can no longer treat climate-related risks as merely a matter of corporate social responsibility and should consider them also in the context of their financial statement.
AASB Practice Statement 2 'Making Materiality Judgements' is essentially the same as the IASB Practice Statement on Materiality with added specific guidance for not-for-profit entities.
Please click to access Climate-related and other emerging risks disclosures: assessing financial statement materiality using AASB Practice Statement 2 on the AASB website.