1
We invented a new way to account for climate change that integrates environmental factors into traditional financial accounting and analysis.
2
We coined the term “ARO acceleration risk” to highlight the oil and gas industry’s failure to save for its eventual retirement.
An Insider’s Perspective
We understand climate-related financial risk from the inside out. Important projects and engagements that have helped form our views include:
Authored the seminal desk book on financial reporting of environmental liabilities and risks (Wiley 2005) after serving as the Chairman of the American Bar Association’s Environmental Disclosure Committee.
Conducted peer benchmarking of environmental financial reporting practices for U.S. integrated oil company. This project inspired development of proprietary methodologies for assessing the reliability of reported accounting estimates and calculating alternative economic values.
Provided environmental legal counsel and representation to real estate and industrial clients over two decades.
Advised a U.S. super major on opportunities to reduce environmental liability and risk and improve profits with regard to upstream and downstream operations.
Conducted global assessment of financial reporting of onshore and offshore decommissioning obligations for a European super major.
Served the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York as a consulting expert in a $100 million environmental liability insurance dispute on the subject of capitalization of costs to remediate preacquisition pollution conditions.
Founded Proprietary Financial Products, Inc. (PFP) and developed and patented software and systems for The Home Account, an integrated system for online financial transactions, management and financial planning and analysis.
Developed environmental cleanup cost estimates, purchaser screening criteria, and contracting options for European super major in connection with divestiture of environmentally contaminated U.S. downstream operating assets.
Served as a consulting expert to the U.S. Department of Justice on estimation of environmental liabilities in connection with the bankruptcy of Tronox Inc.
Developed innovative environmental risk financing options for Barrick Gold Corporation, the world’s largest gold mining company based in Canada.
Collaborated with internal management team for European super major to develop innovative environmental liability and risk mitigation and transfer options for discontinued mining and oil and gas properties.
Provided federal income tax analysis and planning for TRC Environmental Corp’s Exit Strategy®, a program for the comprehensive resolution of environmental cleanup liability designed to transform environmentally impaired real estate into valuable assets.
Serving as an independent management’s expert (as defined in International Standards on Auditing 500 and 620) for BP, plc, prepared accounting estimates of estimated liabilities for incurred but not reported (IBNR) and unadjusted claims for economic loss and property damage arising from the Gulf Oil Spill, at $70B the world’s most costly environmental disaster to date.
Serving as an independent management’s expert for a Fortune 100 U.S. defense contractor, prepared accounting estimates of IBNR claims under a voluntary product return program.
Proposed, designed and led the implementation of a project to re-engineer General Motor’s global asset recovery process with a $1 billion NPV from increased asset sales proceeds.