A4S CFO Leadership Network and their teams, including senior finance, risk, internal audit, investor relations and sustainability professionals, have developed the guides which include case studies from network members demonstrating practical applications of the approaches and techniques.

John Rogers, CFO of Sainsbury’s and chair of the A4S CFO Leadership Network, said: ‘As CFOs we have a crucial role to play in helping our businesses to understand the value of values, and sustainability in particular.  It can be a challenge knowing where to start, so these guides are designed to give CFOs practical advice using real case studies of how others have tackled the issues.’

The four guides are: 

• CAPEX: a practical guide to embedding sustainability into capital investment appraisal;
• Enhancing investor engagement: a practical guide for investor relations teams to engage on the drivers of sustainable value; 
• Managing future uncertainty: an introduction to integrating risks resulting from macro sustainability trends into business decision-making; and
• Natural and social capital accounting: an introduction for finance teams.

Sarah Nolleth, director of A4S said: ‘CFOs and finance teams have a crucial role to play in embedding sustainability within organisations’ decision making processes.

'These practical guides, written by practitioners in the field who have experienced and tackled some of the issues first hand, will help the finance and accounting community to build more resilient businesses, ultimately leading to better commercial outcomes.’

The Network is expecting to publish further case studies later this year, and is working on additional guidance, including integrated management reporting and embedding sustainability into budgeting and forecasting.

The guides are available here