KPMG is one of the world’s leading professional services companies and one of the “Big Four” accounting firms. Founded in 1881, KPMG has grown from a small Dutch enterprise to an international organization with more than 227,000 professionals operating out of 700 offices in over 153 countries. KPMG provides audit, tax, and advisory services for […]
CAMBRIDGE, MA: Capital markets and regulators are moving fast to integrate Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) factors into the investment decision-making process, but struggle with the quality and consistency of ESG data, despite the framework laid out by the Global Reporting Initiative. The MIT Sloan Sustainability Initiative‘s Aggregate Confusion Project (ACP) welcomes four new investment
Charlottesville, VA: The CFA Institute has published its first ESG disclosure standards for investment products. The association for investment professionals said the voluntary standards will provide investors with information about how investment products align their objectives, investment processes and stewardship activities with ESG considerations. … Margaret Franklin, president and chief executive of the CFA Institute,
Charlottesville, VA: The CFA Institute is a global association of investment professionals. It offers one of the most rigorous examinations in finance called the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) exam which is used as a benchmark for investing professionals globally. The exam consists of three levels that are taken sequentially over two years and admission to
Audit committees are responsible for evaluating the effectiveness of policies and procedures designed to ensure management’s representation of your company’s financial condition is true and accurate. Auditing is a critical step in any type of ethical, social audit, performance audit, or ESG assessment that demands an objective conclusion. Policies include oversight responsibility for the integrity
Brussels: Under the European Green Deal, the financial system has an important role to play in supporting the long-term transition to sustainable development in general and especially the transition to climate neutrality by 2050. Or, as Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis puts it, “As the EU economy transitions towards carbon neutrality, it is vital that banks can
Integrated reporting is an important tool in improving the understanding of the relationship between financial and non-financial factors that determine a company’s performance and how a company creates sustainable value in the long term. When organizations lack clear expectations for performance, they are more likely to lose focus on long-term objectives. This is one of
The GRI is a global standard for sustainability reporting designed by organizations and investors to measure business performance. The GRI has been adopted as a requirement by leading institutional investors, government regulators, and development organizations around the world. It sets out a universal framework for sustainability reporting based on the shared understanding that such information
Sustainable Development Goals were created by the United Nations in 2015. SDGs are a set of time-bound and measurable targets that seek to achieve three overarching goals: end poverty, promote sustainable economic growth, and protect the environment by 2030. The SDGs will replace the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which were established in 2000 to reduce
It is hard to believe that it has been around for twenty years, but the PCAOB was created by Congress as part of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, signed into law on July 30, 2002. And while they do many things, the board’s mandate includes overseeing audits of securities filings and reviews of accounting firm quality control