Financials Sustainability Accounting Standards

45-Day Period of Public Comment

Begins: Wednesday, May 1st, 2013
Comment Deadline: Friday, June 14th, 2013

 

Get Involved

The set of proposed sustainability accounting standards for the Financials sector will be available for public review on May 1, 2013.

 

SASB welcomes comments from the public.

 

The purpose of the public comment period is to obtain public feedback on the proposed set of material disclosure items and associated accounting metrics for seven industries within Financials sector. These items and accounting metrics were developed by SASB through a rigorous research and industry engagement process. The issues and accounting metrics form the basis for the recommended sustainability disclosures companies publicly listed in U.S. should include in their annual reports (Form 10-K or Form 20-F for foreign private issuers).  These standards will be supported by Technical Protocols to ensure proper and consistent accounting.

 

Two types of documents are available for download: Industry Briefs (background information on the industry and evidence of materiality for each item) and associated Exposure Drafts (outlining recommended accounting metrics for disclosure of material environmental, social and governance [ESG] issues for each industry).

 

The industries in this sector are:

• Asset Management & Custody Activities
• Investment Banking & Brokerage
• Commercial Banking
• Consumer Finance
• Mortgage Finance
• Security & Commodity Exchanges
• Insurance

 

Those providing comments should bear in mind that the proposed disclosure standards are intended to be integrated in financial filings of publicly-traded companies, such as the Form 10-K. As such, they must reflect auditable information that is material to investors and that can be collected in a cost-efficient manner.

 

Please provide comments in the form of a letter on official letterhead, submitted by email to: comments@sasb.org. We strongly encourage participants to provide your comments on company/organization or individual letterhead signed by the authorized representative.

 

Letters should specify the disclosure standard upon which comments are being made. Specifically, SASB would like comments to address the following questions:

 

Question 1: Are the disclosure items material to a reasonable investor? Do the suggested accounting metrics accurately represent performance with respect to the associated sustainability issue? How would reported accounting metrics be used in making investment decisions? How would the metrics be useful for internal company management?

 

Question 2: How costly would it be for companies to collect, analyze, and report information required for the proposed accounting metrics? Do you anticipate this cost to be a barrier to reporting, adoption, or usage of the proposed accounting metrics? What aspects of reporting, if any, would you foresee being most costly for reporting organizations?

 

Thank you for your involvement in the development of these important standards.

 

We look forward to receiving your input!

 

Period of Public Comment Start Dates by Sector:

Sector:	Start Date:
Health Care	March 1, 2013 – Closed
Financials	May 1, 2013
Technology & Communication	August 1, 2013
Non-renewable Resources	November 1, 2013
Transportation	February 1, 2014
Services	May 1, 2014
Resource Transformation	August 1, 2014
Consumption	November 1, 2014
Renewable Resources & Alternative Energy	February 1, 2015
Infrastructure	May 1, 2015