Accountancy Europe calls for ESRS to be aligned with ISSB standards before adoption
11 Jul, 2023
Accountancy Europe has commented on the draft delegated regulation regarding sustainability reporting standards released for comment by the European Commission in June 2022. Main points in the response are aligning the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) with the ISSB standards before adopting the delegated act and ensuring consistency between ESRS and other EU legislation.
The response notes that Accountancy Europe believes that the remaining non-alignment between the ESRS and the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) IFRS sustainability standards is a fatal flaw which should be amended by the EC before the adoption of the delegated acts. This would include aligning the currently diverging:
- ESRS’ financial materiality definition and description with the IFRS materiality;
- materiality assessment approaches (ESRS focus on the phenomena whereas ISSB focuses on information); and
- determination of useful information for each type of user of information.
The response also notes that "the process followed was neither ideal nor as intended in the Better Regulation principles". It states that EFRAG developed the first set of ESRS "under extremely challenging deadlines", which resulted in a short consultation period and outsourcing of important tasks. It also notes that the proposed delegated acts "could have merited a broader and longer consultation than the EC’s targeted 4-week feedback period".
Please click to access the full response and a summary press release on the Accountancy Europe website.
