The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) released a Small Business Sustainability Checklist to help small and medium-size entities (SMEs) maximise the benefits of incorporating sustainability into their strategy and business operations.
“The checklist is a diagnostic tool designed to be tailored by each business according to its own unique circumstances, including its industry sector, lifecycle, and products and services provided,” a news release said. “It lists a comprehensive range of initiatives and actions to be considered in terms of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors.”
In the news release, IFAC stated that small and medium-size practices (SMPs) are ideally placed to help SMEs on this journey because of their deep business knowledge and expertise. SMPs can recognise the risks and opportunities and advise SMEs on how best to act on them.
IOSCO publishes final report on cryptocurrency recommendations
The International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) has published a final report detailing its policy recommendations related to the cryptocurrency and digital asset markets, a news release said.
“These recommendations are central to the delivery of a coordinated global regulatory response
to the significant investor protection and market integrity risks posed by centralised cryptoasset intermediaries called crypto asset service providers (CASPs),” IOSCO said in a news release.
The targeted recommendations elaborate on the regulatory expectations, either through application of existing rules or development of new rules, depending on the jurisdiction, the release continued.
FRC publishes taxonomies, reviews IFRS 17
The UK Financial Reporting Council (FRC) published the 2024 suite of taxonomies, which incorporates changes to UK IFRS, FRS 101, FRS 102, UKSEF, and Charities, a news release said. The 2024 suite also contains taxonomy documentation, supporting documents, key information sheets, and release notes.
The FRC news release detailed several key changes.
Although the public consultation on the taxonomy suite has closed, the FRC still welcomes feedback until 31 December through its comment tool Yeti, and by email to XBRL@frc.org.uk.
In another news release, FRC detailed its review of ten companies’ IFRS 17 insurance contracts disclosures and published the findings. The FRC was pleased with the quality of the disclosures and identified examples of good practice, the release said, but also found room for improvement in the following areas:
- Providing quantitative and qualitative disclosures, that are company-specific, enabling users to understand how insurance contracts are measured and presented in the financial statements.
- Ensuring that accounting policies are sufficiently granular and provide clear, consistent explanations of accounting policy choices, key judgements and methodologies, particularly where IFRS 17 is not prescriptive.
- Avoiding any boiler plate wording – narrative should always reflect the company’s particular circumstances.
— To comment on this article or to suggest an idea for another article, contact Steph Brown at Stephanie.Brown@aicpa-cima.com.