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The Institute of Public Accountants (IPA) will announce the release of an e-book on sustainability in the new year, as it moves towards influencing the development of a more sustainable society.
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‘Sustainability is not a buzzword’: IPA
02 January 2020
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The IPA is preparing to issue an e-book aimed at accountants with tips and smart ideas to help them inspire their small business clients to become more sustainable.
“Sustainability for us, is not just a buzzword. We want it to be a way of life. We want it to be part of our culture, we want it to be something that permeates everything that the IPA does as an organisation,” said Vicki Stylianou, the IPA Group executive for advocacy and technical, on the sidelines of the national congress held in Adelaide last month.
Ms Stylianou explained that the e-book is not about dictating procedure, rather its purpose is to serve as a guide for accountants looking to raise awareness among their clients.
“We’re not going to dictate and we’re not in a position to prescribe, so it’s whatever works for them. We’re going to be there,” she said.
Ms Stylianou explained that accountants are leaders and influencers in society, with the power to shape conversation on issues affecting their clients and the populace in general.
“I think it’s time that accountants really step up and take their place as influencers on sustainability, generally speaking. So that’s something that the IPA is going to be really focusing on in the next year and the years to come,” she said.
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Becoming greener doesn’t have to be a costly and can be as small as cutting down on the amount of waste you’re producing, Ms Stylianou opined.
“It can be how to use clean energy, how to reduce your electricity bills. Really simple things like that because, we’re always talking about energy bills,” she said.
“So, you’ve got to start small, even if it’s baby steps and you can build up. It doesn’t necessarily need to be a big resource intensive, expensive thing. I think just raising the awareness to start with is going to be really, really critical.”
Ms Stylianou urged accountants to take a closer look at the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development that includes 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and presents a holistic approach to achieving sustainable development for all.
She explained that the IPA has already done a lot of work on sifting through the SDGs and breaking them down into areas accountants can have the most impact in.
“One of the things that the IPA will be doing going forward is to look at specific things that accountants can do,” Ms Stylianou said.
“Because we need to focus and we need to come up with some achievable goals to start with and to keep building from there. But at the same time, we’re constantly trying to change the mindset, the culture, the awareness, and a lot of that will be through action.”
Integrated reporting
Looking to the future, Ms Stylianou predicted that integrated reporting will start to make its way into small business operations.
While it has already permeated the accounting profession, with big businesses migrating from traditional reporting methods to a framework that incorporates all aspects of the business and measures them up against green goals, small businesses have been more reserved.
Ms Stylianou clarified that integrated reporting does not have to follow a specific template, it can be “whatever it is that suits you and suits your resources”.
“How you report and what you report against and how you measure, are all things that you can start small and you can build up,” she said.
“So, it’s not like you have to have super amazing, super detailed integrated reports from day one, you can build up and it very much will be a case of it has to match your resources.”
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