SEC Official Defends Pulling Accounting into Draft Climate Rule

The SEC’s top accountant pushed back Wednesday against criticisms that the commission overstepped its role by requiring financial statement disclosures in its sweeping climate proposal, saying it would build on existing accounting rules.

Under a draft rule, a new climate-related footnote wouldn’t alter accounting requirements for how to calculate and report the possible financial impact of climate-related events, Paul Munter, acting chief accountant to the Securities and Exchange Commission, told a conference held by Baruch College.

• “The commission proposing, I’ll call it, granularity with respect to disclosures of certain matters is by no means a new phenomenon,” Munter ...