Several events occurring over the past year may signal a sea change in the way that corporate executives report environmental liabilities in their SEC filings. Among the most significant were the SEC’s new interpretation of “triggering events” that require an 8-K filing, and the FASB’s issuance of guidance concerning FAS 143.
At the same time, calls by powerful institutional investors for greater environmental disclosure—combined with the results of a recent GAO report—have gotten the attention of the Securities and Exchange Commission, which is already pushing for more thorough disclosure of related risks in the “Management’s Discussion And Analysis” sections of public company reports.
