Workiva Joins SASB in Support of XBRL Taxonomy for ESG Reporting

The Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), an organization that sets standards that guide disclosure of financially material Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) information by companies to their investors, announced its new eXtensible business reporting language (XBRL) taxonomy is now open for public comment. 

In October of 2020, SASB announced its engagement of PwC to support the development of an XBRL taxonomy that would encompass all 77 of the SASB’s industry standards. The goal was to improve the usability, quality, and comparability of disclosures, enabling faster, efficient, more comprehensive analysis of ESG information.

PwC crafted a data preparer’s guide to offer guidance on using this new taxonomy, and the taxonomy was tested using the cloud-based Workiva Platform developed by the global leader in XBRL and Inline XBRL, Workiva Inc. (NYSE:WK).

“Using XBRL for ESG reporting creates an opportunity for the Office of Sustainability and the Office of the CFO to work together and drive transparency and comparability. As ESG data proliferates, organizations will need platforms that can manage data inputs and support multiple outputs, which will now include XBRL,” said Workiva’s Senior Director of Product Marketing, Steve Soter. “All stakeholders of an organization need disclosure that promotes understanding of a company’s global value and its global impact. The SASB’s XBRL taxonomy is a welcome step in that direction.”

SASB is asking all interested parties in XBRL and the future of ESG reporting to submit feedback by May 3, 2021.