SASB Debuts Advisory Partner Program

By Michael Cohn, Editor-in-Chief, AccountingToday.com

The Sustainability Accounting Standards Board has launched an Advisory Partner Program to encourage corporate and investor application of SASB's standards and guidance on sustainability accounting.

SASB Advisory Partners will lend their expertise, tools and perspective to support the consideration and application of SASB standards.

"Now that SASB's first set of provisional standards is nearly complete, we're increasingly focusing on supporting use of the standards by companies and investors," said SASB CEO Dr. Jean Rogers in a statement. "We developed our Advisory Partnerships to formalize our support for those advancing the application of accounting standards to manage and report sustainability risks and opportunities. Each advisory partner was selected as offering the perspective, proprietary tools, and expertise to help interested companies and investors find value from using SASB standards."

ounding advisory partners include Antea Group, BrownFlynn, Crowe Horwath, Goby Inc., iCompli, Sociovestix Labs, Sustainability Reporting Partners, thinkstep, 38 North Solutions and Zizzo Strategy.

"Last year we published the Implementation Guide, which offers reporting professionals practical guidance on using SASB standards," said Robert Herz, former chair of the Financial Accounting Standards Board, who is now a board member for SASB. "The Advisory Partner Program offers hands-on support for companies looking to select appropriate sustainability accounting standards for their organization and effectively embed them into core management and reporting functions."

"A random mix of ESG data, without form or purpose, could create more confusion for companies and their investors," said Evan Harvey, managing director of corporate sustainability at Nasdaq. "SASB's Advisory Partners can clear up this confusion by improving the quality of ESG information, so that it proves the equal of financial information."

SASB plans to issue its last set of provisional standards on Wednesday, marking the complete set of provisional standards for 79 industries in 10 sectors complete. SASB will then enter a period of deep consultation to get feedback on the standards' decision-usefulness and cost-effectiveness. SASB's proposed process for codifying and maintaining the standards will open for public comment on April 7.

For more information on the Advisory Partnership program, contact Harrison.Thomas@sasb.org.