Sixteen state attorneys general are calling on the “Big Four Accounting Firms” by letter for accountability over their actions that prioritize Environmental, Social, Governance investment strategies and climate goals, which will prove to be detrimental to consumers, the officials say.
One leader of the letter, Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers, told The Center Square that “the Big 4’s climate commitments force clients to make burdensome climate-related disclosures that drive up the costs of their services and place onerous requirements on farmers and small businesses.
“These costs will ultimately be passed onto consumers, who will be forced to bear the burden of increased prices for food, energy, and other everyday products,” Hilgers said.
The “Big Four Accounting Firms” to whom the attorneys general’s letter was sent are Deloitte, PWC, EY and KPMG. None of the firms responded to The Center Square’s individual requests for comment by publishing time.
Led by attorneys general from Nebraska, Florida and Alaska, the letter was signed by 13 additional state Attorneys General hailing from Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, Mississippi, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, West Virginia, Oklahoma and Montana.
The attorneys general wrote in their letter that “the Big Four’s climate commitments to the TCFD, ISSB, and NZFSPA conflict with core professional accounting standards of materiality, neutrality, and error avoidance.”
“These commitments create an appearance that the Big Four have agreed to compromise their independence in favor of pursuing climate-related goals external to the audit,” the letter said.
The letter pointed out that “the Big Four’s climate commitments also create potential conflicts of interest that may violate the duties of integrity and objectivity by imposing climate-related disclosure obligations that benefit the Big Four at the expense of their clients.”
“Furthermore, the Big Four’s advertising about their independence, integrity, and objectivity, without disclosure of their climate-activist commitments and actions to impose additional regulatory burdens on their customers, may constitute deceptive and unfair acts and practices under state law,” the letter said.
The state attorneys general also provided the Big Four with a series of questions related to duty of independence, conflict of interest, and unfair and deceptive acts and practices
Executive director of consumer protection organization Consumers’ Research Will Hild told The Center Square: “It’s outrageous that these massive firms continue to push climate activism while claiming to be independent and objective.”
“By embracing ESG and net-zero agendas, they put ideology ahead of shareholders while profiting from the costly requirements they help impose customers,” Hild said.
“Consumers’ Research applauds these attorneys general for standing up to these firms and holding them accountable for putting activism ahead of the consumers and the small businesses they are supposed to serve,” Hild said.