Burgess COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

CURRENT ACTIVITIES

A4S was established by HRH The Prince of Wales in 2004 to bring together the finance and accounting community from business, government, academia and the capital markets in order to develop the institutions, systems, tools and approaches needed to build a sustainable economy. A4S’s work focusses on ways to integrate measures of environmental health, social well-being and economic performance to provide a ‘future-proofed’ framework for decision making, and build the capacity needed to take action.

Our main themes of work for 2012/13 include:

• Sustainable Economy – helping to embed sustainability into international and national policy and performance measurement systems to create a consistent framework for accounting for sustainability at an international, national and corporate level.
• Integrated Thinking – helping organizations to embed sustainability into decision-making and strategy by seeking to communicate the business case for “Integrated Thinking” and developing practical guidelines and tools.
• Integrated Reporting – helping to redefine corporate reporting such that it more effectively demonstrates an organization’s ability to create and sustain value, including through support for International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) set up by A4S, IFAC and GRI in 2010.
• International Network – further developing our international network to help promote the work of A4S and its aims and objectives overseas, including through our Accounting Bodies Network and international A4S projects.
• Communications and Engagement – Engage the accounting and finance community in the work of A4S and IIRC through developing case studies, convening meetings and speaking at conferences in the UK and internationally.

Jessica Fries, Executive Chair of A4S, at the A4S Rio+20 summit official side event

Help to drive a coherent framework for accounting for sustainability across all levels of our economy by:

• Highlighting the need for better performance metrics at the global, national and corporate level, and,
• Working to drive linkages between the processes to develop better performance metrics at each level such that a coherent framework is produced.

• A roundtable hosted by HRH The Prince of Wales in May 2012 bringing together some of the key actors working on improved performance metrics to gain support for a working group to look at how to align the metrics across our economy.
• An official side event at the UN Conference for Sustainable Development Rio+20 summit in June 2012 with speakers involved in the global Sustainable Development Goals, national Beyond GDP agenda and improved corporate reporting to call for linkages between these processes.
• Setting up a high level working group to look at how to link these processes, chaired by A4S.

IMAGE The Finance for the Future awards host, Simon Jack, financial journalist, with guests

Objectives

Help organizations to integrate sustainability into their overall strategy and decision-making processes in order to allow them to create and maintain value into the future, by:

• Highlighting the business case for accounting for sustainability.
• Identifying and addressing the practical challenges that businesses are facing to integrate environmental and social impacts into decision-making and accounting systems and how these can be overcome.
• Developing the tools and guidance to allow organizations to begin to embed environmental and social impacts, risks and opportunities into day-to-day decision-making.

• Research into Board level decision-making and the way that information related to environmental and social impacts is used and perceived and what can be done to increase its use in the Boardroom.
• Collating case studies that demonstrate the commercial benefits from measuring, managing and accounting for environmental and social impacts, risks and opportunities alongside financial elements and the key role of the finance function in this process.
• Recognition of leaders in this area through the Finance for the Future Awards 2013 in the UK.
• Exploring the business case for valuing resources such as natural capital that underpin our global macroeconomic model. Building consensus and strengthening collaboration between initiatives looking to develop methodologies to calculate the economic value of an organization’s impacts on natural capital through the TEEB for Business Coalition that is working towards standardization of these methodologies, creating an enabling policy environment and a business case for action.
• Exploring the current practices and issues of integrating sustainability considerations into capital expenditure decision-making. Developing capital investment appraisal case studies and training material.

IMAGE Paul Druckman, CEO of the IIRC, at the TEEB for Business Coalition event co-convened by A4S at the Rio+20 summit

Objectives

Drive improved corporate reporting that better reflects an organization’s ability to both create and maintain value, through:

• Supporting the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) and their activities to develop an International Integrated Reporting Framework.
• Using Integrated Thinking as the precursor to successful Integrated Reporting.

• Undertaking research into how investors and analysts source, use and are influenced by extra-financial information, such as disclosures on governance, social and environmental issues along with the usefulness and potential benefits of Integrated Reporting.
• Working closely with the IIRC – the Head of the A4S International Network is a member of the technical team at the IIRC, and Jessica Fries, the A4S Executive Chair, is the Deputy Chair of the IIRC Working Group.
• Undertaking speaking engagements on the development of better performance metrics through improved corporate reporting and the benefits of Integrated Reporting.

4 – International Network

Objectives

A4S Wales event

To help promote the work of A4S internationally and to expand our sphere of influence through:

• Expanding our international reach by working with accounting bodies round the world to promote accounting for sustainability through our Accounting Bodies Network.
• Further developing and continuing to engage our International Network in the work of A4S.

• Working with our powerful network of 22 major accounting bodies round the world to develop specific tools and resources to help organizations embed sustainability into decision-making such as capital appraisal case studies and training, and to incorporate accounting for sustainability into professional and academic qualifications and professional development requirements.
• Expansion of our International Network consisting of our international Accounting Bodies Network, A4S Wales and A4S Middle East, our Working Group and Board members, the network of businesses and public sector organizations with whom we work, and our links through MOUs with the International Federation of Accountants, and the Climate Disclosure Standards Board.

IMAGE Panel discussion with Stephanie Flanders, Justin King, Jonathon Porritt, and Min Zhu

Objectives

• Convene, influence, educate and engage the accounting, finance and investor community around the business case for accounting for sustainability.
• Promote accounting for sustainability by providing thought leadership and insights into Integrated Thinking and Reporting.

• Creation of our community website in collaboration with the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC). The community offers those interested in achieving better accounting for sustainability the opportunity to share ideas, discuss initiatives and connect with each other through discussion topics, Q&As and blogs.
• Development of a network of Ambassadors to promote the work of A4S globally.
• Holding events to allow finance professionals within organizations to share experiences on the business case and journey towards embedding sustainability into decision-making and reporting, including the Annual forum event at St James’s Palace.
• Undertaking speaking engagements to raise the profile of our work both in the UK and internationally.