BCSDA calls for coherent, internationally aligned reporting under External Reporting Australia
SYDNEY, 15 October 2026 I BCSDA has lodged its submission on the proposed standard-setting boards for External Reporting Australia, supporting the reform while recommending five targeted refinements that would improve transparency, coordination and practical implementation for business.
Business Council for Sustainable Development Australia (BCSDA) has lodged a submission to the Australian Government consultation on the External Reporting Australia (Standard-setting Boards) Instrument 2026. The submission supports the establishment of External Reporting Australia (ERA), including a dedicated Australian Sustainability Standards Board.
The opportunity is larger than institutional consolidation. Companies need accounting, sustainability and assurance requirements that work coherently in practice, remain intelligible to international investors and stakeholders, and minimise unnecessary duplication for reporting entities and their supply chains.
BCSDA recommends five refinements to the proposed standard-setting arrangements:
1. Meaningful consultation: Within the proposed due-process framework, explain proportionately how material stakeholder evidence has influenced final standard-setting decisions.
2. International alignment and technical independence: Preserve independent technical judgement while clearly explaining material Australian departures from relevant international standards.
3. Transparent decisions: Make significant decisions and their reasons more understandable, building on existing meeting-record and publication requirements rather than creating duplicative processes.
4. Cross-board coordination: Make the draft's existing coordination obligation work in practice wherever sustainability, accounting and assurance requirements intersect, without directing boards' technical conclusions.
5. Clear voting arrangements: Clarify how the two-thirds threshold for mandatory standards interacts with the out-of-session chair's casting-vote provision.
BCSDA also recommends a proportionate assessment of whether ERA is delivering more usable reporting requirements once it commences. This should draw on existing governance reporting rather than establish another reporting regime.
The instrument is intended to support ERA's commencement on 1 December 2026; its final content remains a matter for the relevant decision-makers.
Comments