EMBEDDING SUSTAINABILITY

SHARED FROM:

     CHARTING THE WAY FORWARD

     BY MAJELLA GOMES

     ACCOUNTANTS TODAY, DECEMBER 2010

 

The world today demand solution to long-term sustainable growth.  Accountants need to find the answers, or risk becoming obsolescent.  By nature of the profession, accountant are charged with creating value and safeguarding assets to ensure growth remains on an upward trajectory.

The profession needs to have a better understanding of the global situation.  Accountants and accounting bodies should play more concerted roles in supervising economic recovery and also assisting national economies in meeting post-crisis challenges.

The usual of spending time in accounting operations are increasingly moving into area such as management support and information systems management.  No matter, these cannot be at the expense of good accounting.

Accountants are generally moving away from just crunching numbers, to be more managerial in their approach.  But creating value is easier said than done.  It is evident that risk and sustainable need to be managed.  It need to be acknowledge that the lack of attention to risk management affects sustainability.

10 KEY ELEMENTS IMPERATIVE TO EMBEDDING SUSTAINABILITY (Olivia Faulkber Kirtley, Board Member of IFAC)
1	Buy-in: By Board and Senior Management
2	Understanding and analyzing key sustainability drivers
3	Integrating the key sustainability drivers into the strategy
4	Making the sustainability everyone’s responsibility
5	Setting meaningful targets and objectives
6	Instituting suitable day-to-day processes
7	Appropriate training
8	Including sustainable targets in performance appraisal
9	Appointing champions to promote sustainability
10	Monitoring and reporting performance

There is a full realization that the status quo must change to maintain relevancy.  It is vital that accountants continues to address the core issues that are preventing them from adapting to industrial and professional dynamics.

There are 3 major areas that should be the focus of the profession in charting the way forward, according to Tan Sri Dato’ Azman Moktar, Managing Director of Malaysia’s Sovereign Fund Manager Khazanah Nasional Berhad:

1.  Regaining Trust

2.  Demonstrating Leadership

3.  Remaining Relevant

Accountants need to be committed to and actively engaged in the promotion of transparency, good corporate governance and ethical business practices.  Accountants need to be constantly aware of issues, trends and developments that have an impact on the way business is done