The Institute of Management Accountants has established a Sustainable Business Management Global Task Force to speak about sustainability issues on behalf of the management accounting profession, accountants and finance professionals.
The goals of the task force will be to define a set of fundamental principles for building a successful and sustainable accounting ecosystem and advocate on behalf of the accounting profession before governments, regulatory authorities and other organizations on sustainable business management and the perspectives of accountants and financial professionals in business. They also plan to educate IMA members and the global business community on the role of accounting and finance professionals with respect to sustainable business information and management.
The move comes ahead of impending new reporting guidelines coming out of the United Nations COP26 climate change conference in Glasgow, Scotland, in November, along with new rules expected from the Securities and Exchange Commission requiring public companies to make climate change disclosures.
“As the world continues to change, so too must business change to focus more holistically on sustainable business management for long term value creation,” said IMA president and CEO Jeff Thomson in a statement. “IMA is making the case that sustainable business is good business in a complex, uncertain, and multi-stakeholder environment. We’ve shown the world accountancy for the 21st century — how the CMA certification is different because the body of knowledge emphasizes strategic thinking, analytics, decision making, and business leadership across an organization for both tangible and intangible value creation.”
The IMA wants to demonstrate the need for management accountants to play a part in environmental, social and governance reporting. “Just about all of the emphasis today with respect to sustainable business is on external ESG reporting,” said Brigitte de Graaff, who is chairing the new task force. “While this is important, it is not the whole story. We want to lead by emphasizing the role of management accounting and finance in facilitating the building of resilient, sustainable businesses. We aim to be the voice of the profession to make sure management’s perspective in these significant changes to accounting are not overlooked but prominent.”
As one of its main objectives, the task force is defining a set of fundamental principles for building a successful and sustainable accounting ecosystem, including advocacy and education. “IMA is uniquely positioned to address the critical role of the profession in building sustainable businesses,” said IMA director of corporate reporting research and policy Shari Littan in a statement. “As this area continues to evolve, we will develop thought leadership and education to support our professionals, who will be assuming important responsibilities for meeting these evolving demands. We aim to support this in a way that builds value for all stakeholders, promotes trust, and facilitates meaningful action.”
