On March 30, the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) issued an Agenda Consultation (Agenda Consultation) to obtain feedback on how the IASB should prioritize its agenda for the next five years. The objective of the Agenda Consultation is to gather views on the strategic direction and balance of the IASB’s activities; the criteria for assessing the priority of financial reporting issues that could be added to the work plan; and new financial reporting issues that could be given priority in the IASB’s work plan. Comment letters are due to the IASB by Sept. 27.
Among other items, the Agenda Consultation asks for constituent views on whether the IASB should add a project on climate-related risks. During the outreach that the IASB staff conducted, investors said that they need better qualitative and quantitative information about the effect of climate-related risks on the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities reported in the financial statements. In their view, the disclosures and information regarding climate risk should be comparable and consistent. Investors also noted that climate-related risks are often perceived as remote, long-term risks and may not be fully considered in areas of financial statements that require estimates of the future (e.g., in testing assets for impairment).
Projects that are on the IASB’s current standard setting agenda that continue to be a focus of Nareit include the Primary Financial Statements project, the Management Commentary project, and the Equity Method accounting project.
Contact
Please do not hesitate to contact Nareit's senior vice president for financial standards, Christopher T. Drula (cdrula@nareit.com), or Nareit's senior vice president for financial standards, George L. Yungmann (gyungmann@nareit.com) with any questions.