Accountants back sustainability audits

Accountancy firms around the world have backed Prince Charles’s proposals to audit the social and environmental impacts of businesses alongside their finances.

Sixteen professional bodies signed up to the five principles outlined in the Prince of Wales’s Accounting for Sustainability (A4S) Forum.

It is the first time that an international group of accountancy firms have publicly affirmed sustainability guidelines.

By signing up to the principles, the participating bodies aim to bring sustainability to the forefront of accounting practice.

“A4S is addressing a critically important agenda for organisations in all sectors of the economy,” said Steve Freer, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA).

“Better accounting and reporting are pre-requisites for better decision making which gives proper weight to the sustainability implications of different business strategies.”

Helen Brand, chief executive of the UK’s Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) added: “We fully support Accounting for Sustainability’s principles which seek to put sustainability issues at the heart of business practice, alongside strategy and profitability.

“We have campaigned for nearly 20 years to highlight the importance of organisations being transparent about the environmental and societal impacts of their activities.

“This initiative will encourage more to think about how they can report on these impacts - and by measuring them, manage them more effectively.”

The five principles outlined in the Forum are: to influence and inform; to lead by example; to drive through leadership; to collaborate through the Forum; and to incorporate accounting for sustainability into training and professional education.

The participating groups are:

Prince Charles said: “I have long been concerned not only by the damage caused to the environment by many of our activities, but also by the broader issue that many of our decisions, taken at all levels and in all walks of life, have wider or longer-term consequences of which those taking the decisions are unaware or do not understand fully.

“I am delighted that accounting bodies across the world have recognised that sustainability is an issue of global concern and have committed to the Principles developed by my Accounting for Sustainability Forum.”