Accountants should maintain board to account by precisely reporting non-financial data: Parekh

ICAEW President Julia Penny known as for chartered accountants to play a number one position in securing a extra sustainable future throughout a particular members occasion, held final week in Mumbai, forward of the opening of the World Congress of Accountants.

Deepak Parekh, Chairman of Housing Improvement Finance Company and the primary ICAEW Member exterior of the UK to obtain the Excellent Achievement Award additionally addressed delegates. 

“At present, sustainability is not about doing much less hurt however about doing higher. As India transforms into the best development nation on the planet, our greatest alternatives lie in accelerating the transition to a low-carbon inexperienced financial system. That is driving shareholder activism on atmosphere, social and governance points and it’s the accountability of accountants to carry board members to account by precisely reporting non-financial info like local weather danger, emissions and anti-corruption measures, amongst others,” he mentioned.

Leaders of the accountancy occupation, together with ICAEW companions – the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) and Chartered Accountants Worldwide (CAW) – joined greater than 200 ICAEW members to debate how accountants will help rework local weather change dangers into enterprise alternatives. 

“The potential financial prices of local weather change characterize a major monetary danger to economies and companies globally, inserting local weather danger entrance and centre of finance’s remit. Having the ability to embed local weather change and wider sustainability points into enterprise technique and planning, danger administration, procurement and efficiency administration is now important and chartered accountants possess the required expertise to steer the sustainability cost. By offering the data to get higher enterprise selections, the accountancy occupation is usually a catalyst for constructive change and assist safe a extra sustainable future,” mentioned Julia Penny, ICAEW President.

ICAEW was the primary main skilled physique to declare carbon neutrality in 2020. The Institute says altering the way in which enterprise is finished is crucial for addressing the challenges of environmental degradation. Extra than simply add up numbers, delegates heard how chartered accountants can add actual worth by attending to the guts of how enterprise fashions perform efficiently towards a backdrop of transferring goalposts and altering local weather dangers and situations.

Through the occasion, ICAEW inspired members to include ESG concerns when getting ready monetary statements and emphasised the significance of transparency and high-quality communication in studies. The Institute additionally invited members to affix its Sustainability Neighborhood and acquire entry to the newest instruments and sources to assist them inform decision-making and lead a world of thriving economies. 

The ICAEW occasion – its first in India since 2019 – was held on Thursday on the Taj Mahal Palace Lodge, Mumbai forward of the opening of the twenty first World Congress of Accountants. Thought of the “Olympics of Accountants,” this yr’s congress theme is “Constructing Belief Enabling Sustainability” and can discover the twin position accountants should maintain as protectors of the general public curiosity and influencers of sustainable economies for the longer term.