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CASE STUDY 8.1 PG 287
Disclosure of environmental liability
By Lindene Patton C.I.H, Senior Vice President and Counsel, Zurich
Around the world, companies are being required to meet higher levels of disclosure of environmental liability … in the United States, for example, the US Financial Accounting Standard Boards (FASB) issued provisions in 2002 for accounting for environmental liabilities on assets being retired from service. The provision for accounting for assets retirement obligations required companies to reserve environmental liabilities related to the eventual retirement of an assets if its fair market value could be reasonable estimated.
The intent of the ruling was disclosure, but the conditional nature of estimating of fair market value caused corporations to take the position that they could defer their liability indefinitely by ‘mothballing’ a contaminated property. Companies effectively postponed the recognition of the environmental liabilities in the absence of pending or anticipated litigation.
Earlier this year, FASB clarified its intention by providing an interpretation that said companies have a legal obligation to reserve for environmental and other liabilities associated with the eventual retirement of manufacturing facilities of parts of facilities, even when the timing or method of settlement in uncertain. Among examples given by FASB: * An asbestos-contaminated factory can not simply by ‘mothballd’ without adequate reserves to cover the eventual cost of removing the asbestos * Reserves must be established today for the eventual disposal of still-in-use, creosote-soaked utility poles.
As a result of what may seem like a minor technical re-interpretation, companies may have to recognize immediately millions of dollars in liabilities in their income statements to comply with this change.
In Europe regulators have also initiated

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