Big Four Accounting Firms Enter The ESG Reporting Fray Companies’ attempts to transition to a more socially responsible, sustainable model have long been plagued by the challenge of measuring progress. With no universal reporting formats, businesses have struggled to monitor their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance. There have been various attempts at
From Crisis To Opportunity: Central Banks Seize The COVID-19 Moment To Embrace Change Central banks worldwide are embracing extraordinary policies in a bid to stave off the worst economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The US Federal Reserve has announced a dramatic shift in its monetary policy approach, for example, and the European
US Stocks Soar Amid Pandemic: When Will the Crash Hit? Despite the brutal economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic and a recent correction, US stock markets appear ready to end the year in the black. This is an extraordinary performance at a time when the global economic outlook seems increasingly bleak and global
ESG Reporting Revolution – Firms Must Grapple With The Need For Real Numbers As socially responsible investing (SRI) became increasingly important to investors, many companies began to produce glossy annual sustainability reports. However, those reports often offered style over substance and a lack of widely accepted reporting standards meant that many companies were
Governments Are Borrowing At Record Rates, But Yields Remain Low (For Now) As governments around the world roll out enormous stimulus programs in a bid to resuscitate their pandemic-hit economies, government debt issuance has hit record levels. Yet, despite double-digit budget deficits around the world, yields on government debt remain low. Indeed, in some large
Combatting COVID-19: How Central Banks Are Responding To The Crisis Global central banks – namely the US Federal Reserve (Fed), the European Central Bank (ECB), and the Bank of Japan (BOJ) – have responded with unprecedented intensity to the economic crisis that has followed in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. They have rapidly
Winners And Losers As Market Volatility Returns In the years following the global financial crisis (GFC), market volatility remained relatively muted, generally moving within a narrow band. Supported by modest but steady economic growth and accommodative monetary policy, global stock markets experienced few pronounced ups and downs for most of the last decade. Then, in
