The Prince’s Accounting for Sustainability Forum held in London just before Christmas drew over 200 business, community, investor and professional accounting leaders from around the globe. I represented the Institute at this event, along with our technical expert, Geraldine Magarey, Manager Sustainability and Regional Australia.
Held at St James’s Palace State Apartments, HRH the Prince of Wales and the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne MP, spoke passionately about how the global economy needs to evolve to meet the challenges of the sustainability revolution. The future is uncertain and people are judged, remunerated and recognised largely by what they achieve today rather than tomorrow.
How we plan and provide for the future will determine our ultimate success and, indeed, survival.
One thing is clear – there is still an urgent need for businesses to put a value on and better account for the social and environmental impacts of their operations.
Now some of you may say this appears to be a re-run of the ‘Triple Bottom Line’ reporting which has been around for some years, but this is not the case. The focus of the forum was to highlight the emergence of ‘Integrated Reporting’ – an enhanced reporting mechanism increasingly used by businesses to better meet the information needs of stakeholders.
Smart businesses are already well ahead of their competitors with integrated reporting – this is not only for the future, but for now!
I’ve expanded further on the topic of Integrated Reporting in my regular Dealbook column on AFR.com.
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