John Edwards, CEO of the Institute of Financial Accountants (IFA), looks at how the accountancy sector can play a pivotal role in helping firms adopt better business practices that not only address current sustainability, but are also maintainable in the long run
Environmental sustainability is the word as 2022 opens its doors for business, and now the stakes are higher than ever as organisations face more pressure to reduce their climate impact.
Even before we’d ever heard of Covid, it was becoming clear that one of the accounting sector’s biggest opportunities lay with environmental sustainability. The pandemic and COP26 have served as a stark reminder that sustainability issues are fundamental to an organisation’s survival as they become increasingly accountable not just for the source of their finances, but also for the environmental pedigree of their operations.
This places accountants at a significant advantage as managing that sustainability requires risk assessment and reporting skills, things that they are ideally placed to provide. What’s more their unique positions within business as trusted advisers presents a new revenue opportunity of adopting the burden of environmental planning and accountability on behalf of their clients.
