Beyond the GAAP - May 2024

In May, EFRAG issued some important documents to support large entities that are required to publish a sustainability statement under ESRS. EFRAG had first issued a compilation of explanations provided to stakeholders in response to questions posed on the Q&A platform opened last October. In addition to reproducing some of the answers already published, this compilation includes 44 new explanations on sometimes sensitive technical issues, such as how to determine the metrics required by ESRS.

EFRAG has also published its first three implementation guidance documents, which address materiality assessment (IG 1), the value chain (IG 2) and the list of datapoints in ESRS (IG 3). EFRAG provides practical explanations through illustrations and examples, and clarifies the provisions of the standards on these issues, which are both complex and fundamental to the implementation of ESRS. IG 3 is likely to be particularly useful in determining the disclosures required for the material impacts, risks and opportunities identified, but also in anticipation of the sustainability statement tagging stage.