ESG Accounting Guidance Coming Next Week for States, Cities

States, cities, and local governments are receiving guidance next week on how to apply existing US accounting rules to emerging questions about environmental, governance, and social issues such as pollution remediation plans or how climate change risk affects operations.

The Governmental Accounting Standards Board is not issuing new accounting rules but instead is offering an overview of how long-standing accounting standards already cover some of the ESG questions that analysts, taxpayers, watchdogs, and other readers of state and local financial statements increasingly want details about, according to Governmental Accounting Standards Board Chair Joel Black.

“We don’t have guidance specifically ...