Business & Accountants, working together, can help deliver UN Global Goals
This blog was written by Fayez Choudhury, Chief Executive Officer, International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), for the A4S Summit 2016
Over the next 15 years, the 17 SDGs will underpin global efforts to end extreme poverty, protect the planet, and foster sustainable economic growth. Mission-critical to their attainment will be strong partnerships between the public, private, and voluntary sectors.
Incorporating the SDGs into the business lexicon and culture is critical if companies are to seize the opportunities inherent in the SDGs, while managing related risk. And to meet the challenges posed by the SDGs, we must unleash the private sector investment required to power innovation.
The SDGs will also present forward-thinking, dynamic companies with a remarkable opportunity to weave the goals into their culture, and incorporate them into boardroom and management conversations about future direction and business models. In terms of corporate accountability, the SDGs will enable those same companies to enhance their reporting in ways that are rooted in corporate citizenship, integrated thinking and reporting, and increased transparency—all of which are central tenets of the recently launched King IV Report on Corporate Governance for South Africa.
Instilling a commitment to respond to these development challenges within the private sector will require strong leadership, and shaping and validating organizational objectives, strategies, and plans within the context of the SDGs. Specifically, ensuring sustainable consumption and production patterns (Goal 12) will demand more from corporate reporting and usher in a new level of transparency that demonstrates how corporate objectives and activities contribute to responsible consumption and production.
In the public interest, profession accountants are critical to building both responsible organizations, and capital markets that thrive over time. Our skills make us natural partners in helping businesses integrate SDGs into governance, management, and reporting, while facilitating greater connectivity between social and environmental responsibility and economic benefit.
But above all, it is clear that “business as usual” is no longer acceptable. We are living in a world in which citizens wonder whether government has the capacity and capability to respond to the challenges of their daily lives; and they question the existence of the institutions shaping their world. It’s vital that we shift the broader social narrative toward inclusion, and the SDGs are an opportunity for business and professional accountants to work together to create relevant, transparent solutions to sustainable development challenges.
You can find out more in a new IFAC report, The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: A Snapshot of the Accountancy Profession’s Contribution, which highlights the important role that the profession can play in delivering the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Fayez Choudhury, Chief Executive Officer, International Federation of Accountants (IFAC)
