A new survey on environmental, social, governance (ESG) finds that many US businesses are not ready to meet US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) proposed requirements for disclosing data and risks on ESG-related issues. Services and accountancy firm PwC recently published the results from the survey it did with Workiva in a report, “Change in the Climate: How US Business Leaders Are Preparing for the SEC’s Climate Disclosure Rule.”
The PwC/Workiva survey queried 300 executives at US-based public companies with at least $500 million in annual revenue.
They found that 39% of business leaders considered their companies “not fully prepared” to meet the SEC’s disclosure requirements.
Some 85% of the leaders said they do not have “the right technology in place” to execute the requirements.
Some 36% of them expressed concern that their company was “staffed appropriately” to do so.
According to 61% of the executives, compliance costs in the first year would likely exceed $750,000.
Since the SEC rule was proposed, 95% of the executives are “prioritizing ESG reporting more.”
According to PwC, “seven-in-ten” business executives consider it “reasonable” to have at least two years—after the SEC rule goes into effect—to make their first required filing.
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