In this informative new post: "Sustainability Accounting Standards and SEC Filings," SASB discusses the bases for its view that companies may include their SASB disclosures within or outside of their SEC filings - contrary to its initial pronouncements that such disclosures would necessarily be incorporated into Form 10-Ks or similar SEC filings. Among other things, SASB indicates it has learned that investors don't really care where the sustainability information is located provided it is readily available, reliable, and comparable, and that corporates generally are reluctant to include the disclosures in their SEC filings due to perceptions of immateriality and potential liability, as well as the non-periodic nature of the information supporting the disclosures.
According to SASB, most companies that use the standards for disclosure include the information on their website or in a standalone sustainability report rather than in their SEC filings. That fact notwithstanding, the post highlights the somewhat novel approaches recently taken by two companies - Vornado Realty and Etsy - that included their SASB reports in their Form 8-K and Form 10-K filings, respectively.
Access additional information & resources on our Sustainability/ESG page. This post first appeared in the weekly Society Alert!