Forum explores ways to enhance quality of corporate sustainability disclosures

2023-09-06

Hiroshi Komori, a board member of the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), visited Taiwan to serve as a keynote speaker at the "14th Taipei Corporate Governance Forum" held on September 4. His topic was "Sustainability Disclosures and Corporate Governance: Applying IFRS ISSB S1 and S2 Standards." After the event, he visited the Accounting Research and Development Foundation (known as ARDF) to discuss ongoing work and challenges related to promoting sustainability disclosure standards.

Hiroshi Komori states that the ISSB is currently focusing on promoting the S1 standard "General Requirements for Sustainability-related Financial Disclosures" and the S2 standard "Climate-related Disclosures," and discussing the sustainability issues that should be prioritized for future disclosure standards. He emphasized that ISSB’s international sustainability disclosure standards differ from those issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) in that ISSB standards focus on "forward-looking information," whereas IASB standards mainly focus on historical information. Integrating these two types of standards will be a significant challenge, requiring external consultation.

Doris Yi Hsin Wang, Chairperson of ARDF, agrees with Hiroshi Komori’s views on the differences between sustainability disclosures and financial reporting. For instance, financial holding companies and industrial holding companies may both be the holding companies, but they differ significantly in organizational structure and business models. Financial holding companies deal more with cross-border transactions and financial instruments, requiring different accounting and tax treatments for foreign exchange earnings, loan interest, etc. In contrast, industrial holding companies are more concerned with the accounting and tax treatments of production and operational activities, including raw materials, labor, and machinery.

Additionally, Hiroshi Komori participated in an online discussion hosted by ARDF Chairman Wang, alongside ISSB Technical Staff Tim Kasim and Owen Jones from the IFRS Foundation headquarters in London. They discussed practical applications and challenges related to the S1 and S2 XBRL classification standards. Albert Chou, CEO of ARDF’s XBRL Committee, addressed the challenges companies might face when adopting these standards, including the granularity of disclosure content, and provided professional opinions and recommendations. Kasim and Owen advised ARDF to provide feedback on the IFRS Foundation’s "IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Classification Standards" for ISSB’s future consideration.

To enhance the capabilities of Taiwanese companies in disclosing sustainability information and compiling sustainability reports, ARDF will host the "2023 ESG Summit" on November 16 at the Taipei International Convention Center. The summit, themed "Aligning Sustainability Disclosures with International Standards," will feature four professional seminars and a sharing session on sustainability disclosure examples. The event aims to actively advocate for ESG and improve the quality of sustainability disclosures in Taiwan. Event details have been released, and for the latest information, please visit the ARDF official website at www.ardf.org.tw.

提升企業永續資訊揭露品質！ISSB理事來台分享準則

2023-09-06

國際永續準則理事會（ISSB）理事Hiroshi Komori，來台參加9月4日「第14屆臺北公司治理論壇」，擔任專題演講人，講題為「永續揭露和公司治理：應用永續揭露準則IFRS ISSB S1和S2」(Sustainability disclosures and Corporate Governance on the ISSB S1 and S2 Standards)。於會後特別拜會財團法人中華民國會計研究發展基金會（下稱會研基金會），共同討論推動永續揭露準則的相關工作及因應的挑戰。

Hiroshi Komori表示，國際永續準則理事會（ISSB）目前致力於推動第S1號「永續相關財務資訊揭露之一般規定」及第S2號「氣候相關揭露」，以及討論未來永續揭露準則應優先討論的永續議題。他強調，ISSB發布的國際永續揭露準則與國際會計準則委員會（IASB）發布的準則之差別，在於ISSB準則要求揭露的資訊是著重於「未來資訊」；然而，IASB準則要求揭露的資訊則大多是歷史資訊。未來，這兩種準則在某個程度的整合，將是一大挑戰，日後需要向外界徵詢意見。

針對永續揭露準則與財務報導準則的差異部分，會研基金會董事長王怡心非常認同Hiroshi Komori的觀點，永續資訊揭露重視未來資訊，以及永續揭露指標是著重於「行業」揭露主題指標和活動指標。例如，「金控公司」與「產控公司」雖然都是控股公司的型態；但是，從永續經營觀點來分析，兩種公司的組織結構和經營模式有很大的差異。

金控公司涉及較多的跨境交易和金融工具，可能需要對外匯收益、貸款利息等項目，進行不同的會計與稅務處理。相對的，產控公司更多會涉及到生產、營運活動的會計與稅務處理，可包括原物料、人工和機器設備等項目。因為這兩個類型公司的行業特性不同，所以在「會計處理」與「稅捐稽徵」方面，要注意處理方式的差異。

此外，Hiroshi Komori參加由會研基金會王怡心董事長主持，與在倫敦IFRS 基金會總部ISSB Technical Staff 人員Tim Kasim與Owen Jones作線上討論，針對S1及S2之永續報告書數位報告XBRL分類標準，連線討論相關的應用實務議題與挑戰。會研基金會XBRL委員會執行長周世昊，於會中針對企業採用分類標準進行揭露所可能遇到的挑戰，包括揭露內容之細分程度，提出專業意見與建議。Kasim與Owen建議會研基金會，對IFRS基金會發布的「IFRS永續揭露分類標準」提供我國實務應用的回饋意見，以供ISSB未來討論該議題參考。

為提升我國企業揭露永續資訊與編製永續報告之能力，會研基金會將於今年11月16日假台北國際會議中心舉辦「2023 ESG高峰會」，以「永續揭露與國際接軌」為主軸，規劃四場次專業研討會與一場永續揭露示例分享，積極倡議ESG，推升我國永續資訊揭露品質。