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ISSB sees progress on climate standards adoption

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The International Sustainability Standards Board reported progress on adoption of its climate-related disclosures by companies around the world.

The ISSB issued a progress report Tuesday indicating that more than 1,000 companies have referenced the board in their reports and 30 jurisdictions are making progress on introducing ISSB standards in their legal or regulatory frameworks. The International Financial Reporting Standards Foundation, which oversees the ISSB and the International Accounting Standards Board, presented the findings to the Financial Stability Board on Tuesday. The report also discusses the alignment of disclosures with the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures recommendations, which the IFRS Foundation took over responsibility for recording climate-related disclosure progress when the TCFD disbanded in 2023.

The release of the report comes amid the United Nations’ COP29 climate change summit in Azerbaijan this week.

The report indicated that 82% of companies disclosed information in line with at least one of the 11 TCFD recommendations as companies around the world turn their attention to climate-related disclosures. However, less than 3% of these companies are reporting in line with all 11 TCFD recommended disclosures, so few companies offer disclosures covering the company’s entire climate-related governance, strategy, risk management or metrics and targets. The report includes information about the status of the 30 jurisdictions that are progressing toward introducing ISSB standards in their regulatory frameworks, along with insights into how companies are transitioning from disclosures prepared using the TCFD recommendations to disclosures prepared using ISSB standards.

A separate analysis by the IFRS Foundation on some of the main features in these 30 jurisdictional frameworks found that jurisdictions see the value of Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions disclosures. All 29 jurisdictions that have finalized or published proposals on climate-related disclosures have included Scope 3 GHG emissions disclosure requirements, with some allowing or proposing brief extensions of transitional reliefs to prepare for the requirements.

Jurisdictions also see the value of including industry-specific disclosure requirements, according to the analysis. Some 28 jurisdictions have included or are considering requirements for industry-specific disclosure. Only two of the 30 jurisdictions have signaled their intention to make industry-specific disclosure voluntary, at least initially.

“This progress report underscores the significant and encouraging progress in disclosure of climate-related information,” said ISSB chair Emmanuel Faber in a statement. “But further action is needed to address the fact investors are still not receiving the information they need to assess and price appropriately climate and other sustainability-related risks and opportunities. Through jurisdictional initiatives and the voluntary choices companies are making, often in response to investor demand, we continue to see momentum build. The introduction of sustainability-related disclosure requirements into regulatory frameworks through the adoption or other use of ISSB standards, building on the strong foundations laid through the TCFD recommendations and progressing towards a more comprehensive and assurable set of requirements, is of vital importance for the healthy functioning of capital markets around the world.”

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International Sustainability Standards Board chair Emmanuel Faber at the Bloomberg Sustainable Business Summit in London.

The ISSB found that 90% of the jurisdictions have included or are considering requirements for disclosure covering all sustainability-related risks and opportunities over time. Some jurisdictions are initially focused on the disclosure of climate-related risks and opportunities.

In some cases, jurisdictions have moved closer to the ISSB standards compared to their initial proposals in response to calls from stakeholders for greater alignment with ISSB standards and to secure comparability of disclosures by adhering to the global baseline.

One important aspect of the introduction of ISSB standards into regulatory frameworks is that a number of jurisdictions intend to introduce industry-specific disclosure requirements for the first time. Many of those stem from the standards were originally produced by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board, which was absorbed into the ISSB. The SASB standards provide an important component of the ISSB’s global baseline of disclosures supporting high-quality implementation of IFRS S1 General Requirements for Disclosure of Sustainability-related Financial Information.

The Financial Stability Board also published its 2024 progress report on Achieving Consistent and Comparable Climate-related Disclosures on Tuesday, summarizing the main findings from the IFRS Foundation’s report. 

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Tech news: Karbon Practice Management evolves into Practice Intelligence

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Automation platform Quadient announced the acquisition of Serensia, a French electronic invoicing platform provider accredited by the French government as a Partner Dematerialization Platform (PDP). With ownership of a Peppol access point—a secure gateway for document exchange—Quadient can now offer a compliant, end-to-end e-invoicing solution to the millions of companies across Europe that will be required to transition to electronic invoicing under upcoming regulatory mandates. … Accounting solutions provider Sage announced a partnership with CPA.com which licenses select AICPA resources to train Sage Copilot, its generative AI assistant designed to support accountants and finance teams with authoritative, context-aware guidance. The announcement was made at Sage Future, the company’s flagship global customer event, held this week in Atlanta. … Small business accounting platform Xero announced that users who have an account with payments company Stripe can now use Tap To Pay on iPhone, enabling Xero customers in the US with a Stripe account to seamlessly and securely accept in-person contactless payments with their iPhone and the Xero Accounting app — no additional hardware or payment terminal needed. Tap to Pay on iPhone enables businesses to accept all forms of contactless payments, including contactless credit and debit cards, Apple Pay, and other digital wallets. … Trust and security compliance automation solutions provider Scytale announced the acquisition of AudITech, a provider of Sarbanes Oxley (SOX) IT General Controls (ITGC) automation solutions, which integrates with a company’s IT General Control system and audits all controls and populations daily. This acquisition will enable Scytale to offer security, privacy, and AI compliance automation for standards like SOC 2, ISO 27001, and now SOX ITGC in one platform. … Business aviation solutions provider MySky is acquiring the State Tax Guide from Jet Support Services Inc (JSSI), significantly expanding the capabilities of its MySky Tax solution. This acquisition offers users comprehensive, accurate, and up-to-date U.S. state aviation tax information, which will soon be seamlessly embedded within the platform. … Accounting firm-focused payments solutions provider CPACharge announced a new partnership with SafeSend, part of Thomson Reuters. This new partnership will make it easier for tax and accounting firms to get paid as clients receive their tax returns, as well as allows firms to embed CPACharge directly into the workflow for SafeSend One, SafeSend’s flagship product.

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Trump said to be open to lowering SALT cap in GOP tax bill

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President Donald Trump told Senate Republicans he is open to a state and local tax deduction cap lower than the $40,000 in the House-passed version of his giant tax bill, a person familiar with the matter said. 

Trump signaled his position in a meeting with Senate Finance Committee Republicans on Wednesday, and the comments added momentum to Senate GOP efforts to enact a lower SALT cap. 

That push has led to resistance from the House, with Speaker Mike Johnson telling Bloomberg TV Thursday he is fighting to keep the $40,000 cap as it is. 

After the White House meeting Wednesday, Senate Finance Committee Chair Mike Crapo lamented about the cost of the House bill’s SALT cap. 

“There’s not a single Republican senator from New York, New Jersey or California, so there’s not a strong sentiment in the Republican conference to do $350 billion for states that the other states subsidize,” Crapo told reporters.   

Crapo’s top priority for the Senate tax bill is extending a bevy of temporary business tax breaks in the House bill that would expire after 2029, including enhanced interest expensing and deductions on research, development and equipment. Crapo is looking to trim other aspects of the House bill in order to offset the added cost of making those breaks permanent. 

He said that a decision had not yet been made on whether to lower the SALT cap or to what level. Under current law, individuals and couples can deduct $10,000 in state and local taxes if they itemize on their tax returns. 

Johnson said that the higher cap is crucial for the House to be able to pass the final version of the tax bill when it is sent back from the Senate later in the summer. He said he has made that clear to the Senate GOP.

“I told my friends I am crossing the Grand Canyon on a piece of dental floss,” he said.

The Washington Post first reported Trump’s openness to a smaller cap. 

“The White House is working closely with leaders in Congress to ensure that this landmark legislation gets over the finish line,” said spokesperson Kush Desai.

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Employers added 139K jobs in May, including 3,100 in accounting

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Employment grew by 139,000 jobs in May, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday, while the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4.2%.

Employment continued to grow in the health care, leisure and hospitality and social assistance sectors, but the federal government continued to lose jobs as the Trump administration kept up its efforts to slash the workforce. The professional and business services sector lost 18,000 jobs in May, but added 3,100 in accounting, tax preparation, bookkeeping and payroll services. 

Average hourly earnings increased 15 cents, or 0.4%, to $36.24 in May. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased 3.9%. 

“Really only two sectors made up the bulk of all job growth — health care and social assistance (+78K) and leisure and hospitality (+48K),” said Andrew Flowers, chief economist at Appcast. “The ‘diffusion index’ (which measures the breadth of job growth) fell near the lowest point of this cycle. Beyond those sectors, there were signs that professional and business services job growth has weakened further, with the three-month moving average now negative. Moreover, the DOGE-led effort to trim government bureaucrats is having real effects, with a -22K job contraction in the federal workforce.”

As part of those cuts, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics itself has been cutting back on its collection of consumer data for measures such as the Consumer Price Index, which could affect the reliability of some of its data. The BLS has also been getting lower response rates in recent years to its surveys, which could affect the reliability of its data. “They’re getting a lot less data than they used to, so those things add up to probably some volatility in the numbers that come out,” said Frank Fiorille, vice president of risk, compliance and data analytics at Paychex.

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