This interesting article from the ICAEW highlights the fundamental shift underway within sustainability and ESG accountability, with professional accountants being at the centre. 

The unique blend of skills which professional accountants possess, including a systems focused mindset, a data-based decision making approach, a strategic business outlook, the ability to navigate complex reporting frameworks, and a solid framework of CPD and professional ethics, are the ideal toolbox for delivering sustainability responsibility.

Above all, professional accountants, especially those entering the profession now as school leavers and graduates, share a passion for sustainability and ESG, a thirst to learn more about it, and a desire to meaningfully embed it within their professional careers.

For many, the intersection of professional accountancy and sustainability represents the rare bullseye of ‘ikigai’. This passion and purpose will, I am sure, transform the professional accounting sector over the coming years and will ultimately help support private companies, the core market for most professional accountants and the engine room of the global economy, in their transformation to a sustainable future.