Accounting for Sustainability

The reporting of sustainability and the embedding of that process in corporate and other organizations is becoming a significant global issue for the accountancy profession. What was once a peripheral aspect of corporate reporting is now moving into the mainstream accounting and reporting system. This is all happening at a time when the accounting profession has been moving from its traditional stance of measuring only financial figures to one that recognises “intangible” items that have just as much impact on a company's strategy and performance. The financial and economic data needs to be merged with social and environmental information to enable management to see the strategic impacts and possibilities as a whole. (View the Financial Times article "Clean reports add value" and visit The Prince's Accounting for Sustainability Project.)