Good morning. An international accounting standards-setter has moved up by a year the timing for when companies would have to disclose details on their supply-chain financing, a move aimed at improving transparency after several high-profile blowups in recent years.

The International Accounting Standards Board, which sets standards required globally, tentatively agreed at a Feb. 20 meeting on a one-year acceleration for standards that aim to outline what companies disclose on their supply-chain finance programs. As of Jan. 1, 2024, instead of 2025, businesses subject to the standards will have to disclose details such as the size and certain terms of their supply-chain finance programs.

Supply-chain finance is essentially a form of short-term borrowing to pay for goods and services from suppliers. These financing arrangements—which have been used by companies such as Boeing Co., Coca-Cola Co. and Walmart Inc.—free up cash generally without a lot of cost or effort, an advantage that can be particularly appealing as finance chiefs are looking to improve cash flow amid economic uncertainty.

Brazilian retailer Americanas SA in January filed for bankruptcy protection after revealing a roughly $4 billion hole in its balance sheet that was at least in part masked by its supply-chain finance program. And supply-chain finance was central to the collapse in 2018 of Carillion PLC, with many investors unaware that the U.K. construction and outsourcing firm’s supply-chain finance obligations far exceeded its net debt.

– Bob