It can be too easy to limit our thinking around sustainability to the obvious action areas. Solar or wind power provision – check. Recycling methods and technologies – check. Carbon reduction – check. Accounting practices – oh, what would that entail? Yet accountants have a critical part to play in a holistic approach to tackling the environmental and social problems facing our planet. Many are already climate change activists. Contrary to popular perceptions, accountants do much more than deal in just spreadsheets and numbers, tax returns and billing. They have a major influence on actions and policies across businesses large and small – and as a result they can shape how companies approach their sustainability strategies and behaviours, playing a part in ensuring business operates within planetary boundaries. This might include working towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), addressing modern slavery reporting practices, or working with the seafood industry works towards more sustainable oceans. Accountants are everywhere. You can see examples in our own work here in the Pentland Centre for Sustainability in Business where researchers are at the heart of these exact topics – and Mahmoud Gad and Steve Young’s work around modern slavery features in these very pages. If future generations of accountants are to have a positive influence in these areas, then we need to recruit more of them with a sustainability mindset. We must ensure that aspiring accountants are aware of the issues facing the planet, and how they might play their part in addressing them as early as possible. If they do not know about these opportunities, these options, how can we expect them to take the responsibility and do what needs to be done? There are many ways to gain this sustainable development knowledge. This is why I have been working with the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW, a professional accounting membership body) on the development of the novel ICAEW Fundamentals of Sustainability Programme. PROVIDING INSIGHT The ICAEW have recognised the problems I mention above. They wanted to put together an educational resource for undergraduate and Master’s students – those who are at the very start of their professional journey into accounting. This is our chance to reach them when they are open to new ideas, not set in the ways of their profession. Younger generations have also been brought up as climate change, global heating, plastic pollution and mass extinctions have been more talked about – they have a base level of knowledge on which we can build, and expand into the world of accounting. The aim of the programme we have developed together is to provide insight into the nature of sustainable development concerns combined with an introduction to how accountants can play their part in tackling sustainability challenges. It provides an entirely free resource for students (and for lecturers should they wish to use it) to incorporate sustainability knowledge alongside their existing studies. Across the programme, we introduce key concepts in the sustainability domain, describe the ecological and social justice components of sustainability, and identify how accountants/accounting has responded to a sample of sustainability challenges, with a focus on climate change and forced labour. Even over a short course like this, you can make an impact on thought processes and behaviours – much as we as a business school look to influence organisations both private and public through our research, engagement and expertise. It is relatively easy to talk about these areas in general terms, but we all know the importance of demonstrating how it works in practice. Taking an abstract idea and turning into reality is vital not only for making an actual impact in the world but for inspiring others to follow. This is why the programme includes interviews with accountants in practice who are integrating sustainability into their work. In addition, my work as part of the SeaBOS (Seafood Business for Ocean Stewardship) project is also reflected in the final module on the programme where I bring sustainability aspects together. Just as accountants are but one part of the greater solution to our climate challenges, so I am one of many figures involved in SeaBOS. The initiative unites academics from many disciplines, from ecologists to accountants, to collaborate with nine of the largest seafood-producing corporations in the world. 16 |
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