The International Sustainability Standards Board today published an exposure draft proposing amendments to IFRS S2, “Climate-related Disclosures.”

The proposed amendments provide reliefs to ease the application of requirements related to greenhouse gas emissions disclosures. It aims to make it easier for companies to apply the standards while retaining decision-useful information for investors. The exposure draft will be open for comment for 60 days and close on June 27. The amendments are slated to be finalized by the end of the year, subject to stakeholder feedback. 

“It is the role of a responsible standard-setter to listen to market feedback from the earliest implementation stages, and to support preparers in the application of our Standards,” ISSB vice-chair Sue Lloyd said in a statement. “As a market-focused standard-setter, we have taken steps to respond in a timely manner by proposing targeted amendments helping preparers where possible, without causing too much disruption and ensuring that our Standards continue to enable the provision of decision-useful information to investors.”

The proposed amendments are as follows:

• Relief from measuring and disclosing Scope 3 Category 15 GHG emissions associated with derivatives and some financial activities;
• Relief from the use of the Global Industry Classification Standard, in some circumstances, in disclosing disaggregated financed emissions information;
• Clarification on the jurisdictional relief to use a measurement method other than the Greenhouse Gas Protocol for measuring GHG emissions; and,
• Permission to use jurisdiction-required Global Warming Potential values that are not from the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

The ISSB agreed to propose these amendments in January, following discussions of the Transition Implementation Group on IFRS 1 and IFRS 2 as well as the ISSB’s engagement activities. 

Entities can choose whether to apply the amendments’ reliefs, and jurisdictions can choose whether to adopt them without affecting the degree of their alignment with ISSB Standards. The reliefs would help preparers applying IFRS S2 by reducing the risk of duplicate reporting and the related costs associated with applying the standards.

“Proposing these amendments to a relatively new standard is not a decision that was taken lightly — we have carefully considered the need for such amendments and have sought to balance the needs of investors while considering cost-effectiveness for preparers,” Lloyd said. “Our due process is fundamentally important to us. We always consult our stakeholders when proposing changes to our standards and are balancing the need to respond to stakeholders’ needs on a timely basis with giving all interested parties the opportunity to participate in providing feedback by setting a 60-day comment period.”

Federal employee pension benefits are set to be pared back in Republicans’ giant tax and spending package working its way through the House, another slap at a workforce roiled by Elon Musk’s cost-cutting efforts. 

The proposal, which House Oversight Committee and Government Reform Committee Chairman James Comer announced on Friday night, would force many federal civilian employees to pay higher premiums for retirement benefits and to lower their eventual benefits by changing the formula for calculating payments. 

The Oversight Committee expects to vote this week on that plan and other workforce changes. If approved, they would be combined into legislation enshrining President Donald Trump’s legislative agenda, which Republicans aim to enact by August without the help of Democrats.

Comer said in a statement that the committee’s proposal would achieve “reduction in the federal deficit of over $50 billion.”

The biggest change would be to raise the premium that many long-time federal and postal employees pay out of their salaries in the Federal Employee Retirement System. Under the current system, contribution rates are arranged by the year an employee started: 0.8% in 2012 and earlier; 3.1% if hired in 2013, and 4.4% if hired in 2014 and afterward. The change would have employees pay 4.4% to raise $30.7 billion over a decade, according to the statement.

The proposal would also try to save $4.75 billion by basing retiree pension benefits on the highest five years of salary rather than the current three highest years. Those benefits are calculated based on top salary received and number of years in the U.S. workforce.

Other changes being proposed include eliminating supplemental retirement benefits for those who retire before age 62 and are unable to yet collect Social Security, and auditing family members of federal employees to see if they are eligible for health benefits.

Republicans argue that federal employee benefits are too generous compared to the private sector. At the same time, federal employees traditionally accept lower salaries than in the private sector partly because of the promise of those benefits. 

Republicans are planning a House floor vote next month on the larger legislation. The bill would then be sent to the Senate, where it could pass without the help of Democrats so long as the targets in the budget resolution the chambers already adopted are followed.

The House GOP has a goal of finding at least $2 trillion in savings to partially offset the cost of extending the 2017 Trump tax cuts, adding new cuts to taxes on overtime, tips and providing new breaks for older people and car buyers. The Senate has given itself leeway in its portion of the budget plan to make as little as $4 billion in cuts.

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It’s hard for me to believe I published my Memoirs of a CPA book a year ago. Boy does tempus fugit. I was interviewed recently and asked how I got started presenting CPE programs, of which I’ve created and presented over 350 such programs.

I never thought about that and remembered the CPE program that got me started. It was around the mid-to-late 1970s and I had just joined the Managing of an Accounting Practice Committee of the New Jersey Society of CPAs. I was the youngest member of that committee. At the first meeting I attended, I pretty much sat there, listened and said nothing. Toward the end of the meeting the chairman mentioned that the speaker for the Managing Tax Season program that was two weeks away had to back out and they needed a speaker. He doubted they would get one this late. There was a little discussion and when it became evident they would have to cancel the program, I volunteered to present it. I said I never did a CPE program but would put together an extensive handout of forms and checklists I had developed in my practice. The committee members said to go ahead and I could call on any one of them for any help.

I have always been very process oriented and had my own forms, checklists and what has become my SmartProof worksheet (originally done by pencil on yellow worksheet paper). I made copies of all my checklists, forms, memos and sanitized copies of instructional letters to clients. I put together about a 30-page packet and referred to each page in my presentation. I had no notes but described every form and its use. 

What happened afterward was that I started getting calls with tax questions and got to know those colleagues. I was asked to repeat that program the following year and then started presenting it twice a year for the Society, in Northern and Southern New Jersey. Word got around and I was getting calls from other CPA societies and even the AICPA. Based on my AICPA presentation, I was asked to write articles in the Journal of Accountancy and then three books. My Managing Your Tax Season book for the AICPA had three editions. I’ve presented the original CPE program with additions each time I did it, probably 150 times with its many iterations. I still present it a few times a year. Evolving from this was my Reviewing Tax Returns book published by CPA Trendlines, which is currently in its third edition.

No matter who you are and whatever you’ve done, there is always a first time. My first CPE presentation was completely unplanned for and led to my becoming an “expert” in tax season processes. It also led to my developing my current 328-page 190-checklist Word file that I distribute for free to colleagues. If you want it, just email me at GoodiesFromEd@hotmail.com and put Checklists in the subject line. No messages necessary. Some years, over 10,000 checklist files are distributed for free.

I wholeheartedly recommend sharing your knowledge and experience by presenting CPE programs. It’s extremely satisfying, helps sharpen your knowledge, is great for networking with colleagues and sometimes there are very pleasant unintended consequences. If you don’t want to share what you know and do, imagine how it would have been for you if everyone else felt that way. If you want a prod or some help with ideas or getting started, contact me.

Do not hesitate to contact me at emendlowitz@withum.com with your practice management questions or about engagements you might not be able to perform.