Glossary of Terms
Assurance & Assurance activities: These activities are conducted by professionals, often accountants, to check disclosures and give an opinion (known as assurance) on whether disclosures contain any material errors or inconsistencies.
Climate Change-Related Information: The types of subject matter or information established by leading climate change and sustainability initiatives as representing information about climate change that is of interest to investors and others. Climate change-related information of interest to investors generally falls into the categories of strategic analysis, risk and governance and greenhouse gas emissions reporting. This is described in more detail in Chapter 4 of CDSB’s Climate Change Reporting Framework v.1. Click here to access the report.
Financial Statements: These are primarily financial statements together with explanatory notes prepared in accordance with a financial reporting framework, such as International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), national standards or locally generally accepted accounting practices.
Mainstream Financial Reports: These are the annual reporting packages in which certain organizations are required to deliver their audited financial results under the corporate compliance to securities laws of the territory or territories in which they operate. Mainstream reports are normally publicly available and provide information to existing and prospective investors about the financial position and financial performance of the organization and are distinct from material published separately. The exact provisions under which companies are required to deliver mainstream reports differ internationally and examples include UK Companies Act 2006, Regulation (EC) No 1606/2002 of the European Parliament and the Council on the application of international accounting standards and the US Securities and Exchange Commission Regulations S-K. Mainstream reports include financial statements and other financial reporting.
Organizations: This is the group, company, companies or entities for which consolidated financial statements are prepared, including subsidiaries and jointly controlled entities for which equity accounts are prepared.
Other Financial Reporting: This is the information provided outside financial statements that assists in the interpretation of a complete set of financial statements or improves users’ ability to make efficient economic decisions. The main component of other financial reporting is management commentary, also described as management discussion and analysis. Management commentary supplements financial statements by providing additional explanations of amounts presented in the financial statements and explains conditions and events that shaped that information. It also included non-financial information about the entity and its performance that is not presented in financial statements.
Performance: The performance of an organization is affected by the economic resources it controls, its financial structure, liquidity and solvency and its capacity to adapt to changes in the environment in which it operates. Financial performance is the ability of an organization to earn a profit from the resources that have been invested in it. It also takes into account the actual and potential impacts on performance, viability and earnings/growth of the activities of stakeholders and/or systemic risks.
Regulatory Requirements :These include state, national, provincial, regional or local legislation and government-sponsored rules that cover any of the categories of information listed in Chapter 4 of the Climate Change Reporting Framework. Relevant regulatory requirements include rules and/or reference standards and/or methodologies that directly or indirectly affect the way greenhouse gases are measured and reported.
Standards-ready material: These are the standards which have been developed through due process and ready to be used by anyone with confidence.