24 November 2021

ACCA: Accountants could be the ‘sustainability trailblazers’ needed to drive the green agenda in the SME space

COP26 may have focused on big business, but 90% are SMEs, which is why ACCA and CA ANZ (Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand) are equipping accountants with a new playbook to help them and their SME clients achieve their sustainability goals.

How SMEs can create a more sustainable world details the benefits that sustainable actions have for both business success and the environment.  The playbook sets out practical steps for embedding sustainable practices within SMEs, case studies from across the world, and links to a variety of tools and resources.

Given SMEs represent about 90% of businesses of the global economy , improvements in their sustainability practices are vital to addressing our global environmental and social challenges.

The playbook contains guidance from over 30 businesses, both from SMEs, SMPs (small and medium sized practices) and bigger businesses who work close with them including The Balcony Garden, Sage, Taylors Wines, Intuit, Xero, WE Accounting, as well as professional accountants and business leaders from around the world.

The playbook outlines how the following can make a difference:

• Reshaping business models and reimagining the future: explaining what sustainable development is, setting out the business case for sustainability, and illustrating the role of the profession.
  
  
• Acting with urgency on climate change in particular: guidance on how to have the conversation about climate change, illustrating the need for urgent action, and explaining what is happening globally.
  
  
• Considering sustainability in business operations and every decision made: demonstrating different ways action can be taken to address challenges such as reducing emission levels (including how to set targets and measure emissions), waste, and inequality.
  
  
• Adopting sustainability goals: explaining science-based targets, the Paris Agreement, the United Nation’s SDGs, and create ambitious strategies for sustainable future growth.
  
  
• Bringing integrity to the process: How to ensure integrity in the transformation to sustainability by taking a principles-based approach...

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