FRC warns against falsification of financial statements

The Federal Reporting Council on Thursday warned corporate and government entities falsifying financial statements on reporting standards.

The council’s Executive Secretary, Dr Rabiu Olowo, who issued the warning at the opening of a regulatory roundtable meeting in Abuja stressed that the council would not tolerate greenwashing in reporting sustainability.

The event was to commemorate the visit of the Chairman of, International Sustainability Standards Board, Mr. Emmanuel Faber, and his team to Nigeria.

In his address, Olowo said the group had finalised the roadmap document that would be a tool to mainstream the implementation of sustainability reporting in the country in phases and with assurance and timelines.

He also vowed to leverage the efforts and rich expertise of the Adoption Readiness Working Group on the subject matter to deliver top-notch regulatory supervision in the country’s interests.

He pointed out that though most of the world’s economies are failing to advance the social, environmental, and climate goals set in the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement, Nigeria, was taking steady and progressive steps.

He said this is exemplified by the roadmap report for adopting the International Sustainability Standards IFRS S1 and S2 by the FRC and the establishment of the Interministerial Committee on Carbon Market Activation Plan by President Bola Tinubu.

Faber, however, said the ISSB standards would assist banking supervision committees in assessing the risks in banks’ portfolios.

He stated, “The International Public Sector Accounting Standards, for government and state entities have also elected to choose our standards to bring climate topics and part of the national accounting systems.”

Also, the President, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, Mr. Innocent Okwuosa, while commending the FRC for spearheading the adoption of the reporting standards in the country, said, “We have created massive awareness within ICAN and all our members are onboard”.

Nonetheless, the FRC boss said the harmonisation of sustainability disclosure standards globally remained a critical enabler to unlock and align the existing flows of both private and public capital with measurable sustainability outcomes.

This he said, would make better data available and allow for progress in other fields within the “impact transparency” agenda for agents to make informed decisions with full information that evolves from the current paradigm of financial return and risk alone.