Transparency is key to an organisation’s success

In a competitive business environment like Sri Lanka- many companies may place the need to be transparent – to enable their stakeholders, the media and the general public to gain a great understanding of their activities – at the bottom of their list of priorities.

But with a pressing need to protect our precious environment and communities – the need to adopt best practice in corporate social responsibility ( CSR) has never been greater.

That is why ACCA Sri Lanka’s committed to highlighting corporate accountability and transparency in our Sustainability Reporting Awards which recognise those organisations which report and disclose environmental, social or full sustainability information.

The awards – in their fourteenth year - also seek to encourage the adoption of integrated reporting which encompasses environmental, social and sustainability information, to raise awareness of corporate transparency issues and increase accountability for responsiveness to stakeholders.

ACCA has undertaken a lot of work in the sustainability arena over the past year.

In 2014 we issued a paper called Sustainability Matters which looked at six policy topics, selected on the basis of ACCA’s sustainability research to date – which are sustainability reporting, integrated reporting, the assurance of nonfinancial reporting and disclosure, climate change, natural capital, and the green economy. The policies serve as a reference for ACCA’s key stakeholders, as well as a means of summarising the outcomes and conclusions of ACCA’s research activities.

Accountants are well placed to use their skills and experience and apply these to help achieve a more sustainable future. Their professional skill-set in developing metrics, information systems, reporting and designing economic instruments, among other business attributes, will help make our economy greener, our companies more accountable, and achieve global and national measures that look beyond economic output to factor in non-traditional measures, such as human well-being and natural capital. In addition, the recent experience in developing the international financial reporting standards can be shared to develop global sustainability reporting standards and frameworks.

As we face the increasing challenges of climate adaptation, social inequality, protecting human rights and a natural balance, the engagement of accountants in addressing these issues is critical. These policies reflect what ACCA sees as being the very real and material issues confronting business and the profession – and ultimately ACCA believe that accountants can and will rise to these challenges.

The awards we hold not only aim to celebrate and endorse sustainability reporting, but to also seek to encourage the adoption of integrated reporting which encompasses environmental, social and sustainability information, to raise awareness of corporate transparency issues and increase accountability for responsiveness to stakeholders.