The Ethical Landscape of Disclosure

How do you decide what information is material? Who makes the decision to disclose it? Senior management? A formal disclosure committee? What are the risks of not disclosing it? These are critical decisions — materiality matters; it’s the cornerstone of financial and nonfinancial reporting. Global capital markets move on information public companies disclose about their activities.

Companies need to make swift materiality and disclosure decisions on a plethora of topics, from environmental impacts to executive health concerns. Using cyber security as an illustrative case, this interactive bootcamp taught by Cynthia Clark, PhD, will not only give you in-depth knowledge about materiality and disclosure in general, but you will also discover the risks of being on the wrong side of the disclosure decision, including the company and stakeholder impacts of a failure to disclose.

It's imperative that executives and boards of the future deal with the ongoing tension between digital innovation and revenue generation on the one hand, and user privacy, security, and consent on the other. Therefore, teams of 3-5 executives from publicly-traded companies in all industries across the globe will benefit from this virtual bootcamp. The diversity of experience, location, and industry ensures you won’t fall victim to group think and can discover best practices and lessons learned from beyond your usual marketplaces. Designed for maximum impact with minimal intrusion into your busy schedule, the bootcamp is delivered virtually in two 2-hour sessions:

Day 1  September 22, 9am-11am EDT | 3pm-5pm CEST | 5pm-7pm GST | SEE YOUR LOCAL TIME 

The first day (2 hours) will consist of a mix of corporate examples, interactive discussions and group exercises.

Understanding Materiality & Disclosure

• What is materiality?
• What standard should you follow? There’s an alphabet soup of standards: Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB, overseeing US financial reporting practices), International Accounting Standards Board (IASB, addressing the financial reporting in 140 jurisdictions), International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC), Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), and Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), each of which have global reach. Which should your organization adhere to? Why?
• Why “could” and “would,” in materiality definitions, are extremely consequential words.

Understanding Privacy (preparation for the Day 2 case study)

• What is personal information (PI) versus personally identifiable information (PII)?
• How are PI and PII governed by General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and other data protection standards, such as those in California and Latin America, for example?

Interactive Exercise: The Twitter MAP Product

On May 25, 2022, Twitter, Inc. agreed to new oversight and a $150million penalty to settle a U.S. federal privacy suit arising from issues with its Mobile App Promotion (MAP), a product that generates a great deal of revenue for Twitter but also shares user information even if they opted out. In teams and as a group, you'll work through how to handle similar situations involving disclosure that might arise in your own organization.

Day 2 September 23, 9am-11am EDT | 3pm-5pm CEST | 5pm-7pm GST | SEE YOUR LOCAL TIME  

The second day (also 2 hours) will consist of a case study discussion and conversation around a hypothetical company with real world issues that relate to your organization's reality.

Case Study: Grupo’s Dilemma

• This case study (to be read in advance) tells the story of a successful NYSE and Euronext-listed company that experiences an issue with who and how it shares user data. In random breakout groups, and then back with the full group, you’ll discuss whether the data sharing was in fact material, the steps you would have taken with regard to disclosure, the short- and long-term risks presented, and more. 

Potential Threats and Your Response

• The bootcamp will close with an interactive discussion about potential and hypothetical threats organizations could face; when, how, and by whom the materiality decisions should be made; to what degree they should be disclosed; and which standards/standards bodies are most relevant and/or critical to enterprise value.