英国将加强对公司审计中ESG报告的监督

据路透社1月30日报道，英国审计监管机构-财务报告委员会（FRC）将监督审计师是否在公司审计中对企业遵守环境、社会和治理（ESG）报告要求的情况进行抽查。同一天，FRC更新了其ESG意向声明，该声明最初于2021年发布，旨在解决ESG信息的提供、审计和保证、分配、使用和监管方面的问题。FRC在更新后的声明中提到，2023年将重点关注ESG数据的使用以及投资者与公司ESG报告之间的联系。

更新的ESG意向声明延续了FRC推动高质量且可比较的ESG报告披露的最佳做法的努力。2022年，该监管机构调查了审计团队在风险评估程序中对气候变化的重视程度，并在上市公司的报告和账目中纳入了气候相关财务信息披露工作组（TCFD）所要求的披露和气候对财务报表的影响。2023年，FRC将制定关于ESG数据发布和使用的指南和最佳实践，并审查公司的重要性程序，以寻找方法帮助公司向利益相关者提供有助于决策的相关信息。此外，它计划在今年修订《英国公司治理准则》，从而让ESG报告在公司董事会工作中日益增长的重要性得到认知。

UK to Enhance Supervision of ESG Reporting in Company Audits

UK’s accounting regulator， the Financial Reporting Council （FRC）， will monitor whether auditors are making spot checks on their compliance with environmental， social， and governance （ESG） reporting requirements in company audits， as reported by Reuters on January 30． On the same day， the FRC updated its ESG Statement of Intent， which was initially issued in 2021 to address issues with the production， audit and assurance， distribution， consumption， supervision， and regulation of ESG information． The FRC mentioned in the updated statement that in 2023 it will focus on ESG data usage and the link between investors and ESG reporting by companies．

The updated ESG Statement of Intent continued FRC’s efforts to drive best practices in high-quality and comparable ESG reporting and disclosure． In 2022， the watchdog reviewed the audit team’s consideration of climate change in their risk assessment procedures， and incorporated in the listed companies’ reports and accounts the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures （TCFD） disclosures and the impact of climate on the financial statements．

In 2023， the FRC will develop guidance and best practices on the distribution and consumption of ESG data and examine companies’ materiality processes to figure out ways to help companies provide stakeholders with relevant and decision-useful information． Moreover， it plans this year to revise the UK Corporate Governance Code to recognize the growing importance of ESG reporting in the work of company boards．

（Seneca ESG）