ACCA’s guide to preparing for sustainability reporting helps all involved, especially professional accountants, take a leading role enabling better business.
The demand for sustainability information and reports is growing, further amplified by stakeholders’ and regulatory requirements for organisations to be more equitable and sustainable.
The need for sustainability-related information, that is ideally interconnected with financial information, is not limited to large or complex organisations. All organisations need this information to develop and continually improve their business strategies, implement and monitor them. Further, organisation stakeholders, from regulators, investors to the suppliers and customers in the value chain require this information to assess stewardship.
What this guide addresses
ACCA developed this guide with proportionality in mind and structured it around an eight-stage sustainability reporting cycle, comprising a flow of process-, technology- and people-related activities to prepare for and manage sustainability information.
Professional accountants should lead the way and collaborate with technologists, human resource, talent developers, risk management, senior management and other experts to engage with the eight stages of the cycle, which outline:
- who is accountable and responsible
- the processes for identifying material sustainability-related information for reporting purposes
- determining, collecting and reporting the data
- considerations for verification that can lead to continual improvement of reporting, and
- the role of people and technology as vital enablers.
Sustainability reporting cycle
Who should use this guide
This guide aims to help all organisations irrespective of size, industry or sector. With a focus on preparing for sustainability reporting in accordance with the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards (or the ‘ISSB Standards’), this guide applies their ‘building blocks’ approach which makes it equally relevant to organisations applying other sustainability reporting frameworks or standards.
Designed to be relevant across different components and levels of the organisation, top-level executives and those charged with governance may find our interactive high-level overview particularly helpful. For those who need more detail, we have included examples and sample worksheets to facilitate understanding and implementation. Human resource and IT professionals may also find the People and Technology sections useful for resource planning and management.