Data is a burning issue for ESG disclosure, says survey
“While the market continues to demand transparency, more than half of senior executives (57% of survey respondents) indicated that data availability (access) and data quality (accuracy/completeness) remain their greatest challenges with respect to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data for disclosure,” says Deloitte. It surveyed 300 senior finance, accounting, sustainability, and legal executives in the US, and analyses the results in a recent report. With a range of insights on offer, it is worth a deep dive for those interested in ESG reporting.
It is clear that firms in the US are actively working to improve their ESG capabilities, but that significant work and investment are required. 82% of respondents said they will need additional resources to generate ESG disclosures that meet the information needs of critical stakeholders, and 92% were to some degree concerned about not having adequate technology to facilitate disclosures.
Of course, we at XBRL International believe that XBRL has a crucial role to play in enabling high-quality ESG disclosures. Digital reporting can help ensure that data is consistent, accurate and comparable. The ability to carry out automated analysis also helps companies to stay in better command of their data, spot quality issues or data gaps faster, and compare their own performance against peers.
Clearly there are significant challenges inside corporations which need to ensure that new systems, processes, policies and controls are up to the task of producing ‘investment grade’ sustainability data for use in resulting digital disclosures.
Interestingly, the survey also reveals that three-quarters of executives plan to obtain assurance over ESG disclosures in the next reporting cycle, highlighting the importance of this issue and the urgent need for agreement on ESG audit standards.
Read more here.
