Today, leading accounting bodies and other organisations have called for corporate and asset owner action and improved reporting on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in an attempt to hit goals set for 2030. The recommendations are detailed in the report, Sustainable Development Goals Disclosure (SDGD) Recommendations, authored by Carol Adams, Professor of Accounting, with Paul Druckman and Russell Picot, Honorary Professors at Durham University Business School.

The report has been published by global accountancy bodies -  International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS), Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CA ANZ), the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) and the World Benchmarking Alliance. It is also endorsed by the Director of SDG Impact from the United Nations Development Programme (UN-DP). 

The SDGD Recommendations offer a new approach for businesses and other organisations to address sustainable development issues aligned to the three most influential and popular reporting frameworks. They attempt to establish a best practice for corporate reporting on the SDGs and enable more effective and standardized reporting and transparency on climate change, social and other environmental impacts.

The SDGD Recommendations were developed through consultation with accounting and finance professionals, sustainability experts, academics, consultants, framework and standard setters, asset owners and managers and civil society participants. 

Responses to the consultation have been published in Sustainable Development Goals Disclosure (SDGD) Recommendations: Feedback on the consultation. They show strong support for alignment of SDGD Recommendations with other key reporting frameworks/standards (those of the Task force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures, the Global Reporting Initiative and the International <IR> Framework).  Respondents agreed that accountability for value destruction and negative impacts are critical. 

The SDGD Recommendations call on organisations to consider sustainable development risks and opportunities relevant to their long term value creation strategy and communicate the actual or potential impacts on achievement of the SDGs. This will require relevant and material disclosures about the factors that influence long term value creation (or destruction) for the organisation and society or that have an impact (positive of negative) on the achievement of the SDGs in the annual report. 

Professor Carol Adams says: “There is increasing awareness in both business and investment communities that the health and wellbeing of the planet and its people impact on the longer term success of business.  The SDGs offer an opportunity to collaborate and address this. A change in what and how business is done is essential to the achievement of the SDGs.  Key to driving change is the requirement for a statement from the Board Chair that the Board accepts responsibility for the SDG Disclosures in the annual report.”

These Recommendations are built upon a suggested five-step approach for contributing to the SDGs aligned with long-term value creation, previously developed by Professor Adams and published by the IIRC and ICAS.

Elizabeth Boggs-Davidsen, Director at the UN DP said: “To achieve the SDGs companies and investors will need to move away from mapping existing activities to the goals to a more integrated practice of directing and disclosing on investment activities that create more impact and contribute to progress towards the SDGs.”

Gerbrand Haverkamp, Executive Director at the World Benchmarking Alliance said: “Without companies aligning their business models and operations with the SDGs - they simply won’t be achieved. We therefore need to work together in translating scientific and societal expectations into clear reporting guidance for companies. This will create the data the World Benchmarking Alliance and others can use to assess and rank corporate performance in a manner that is transparent and free for everyone to see.” 

Kevin Dancey, CEO at the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), said: "Achieving the SDGs requires dedication from business, and the urgency continues to grow. We fully support global best practices that enable effective, transparent reporting on sustainability measures. It's imperative that we act together and that we act now to secure a sustainable future.”

Keddie Waller is an experienced policy advocate who is passionate about the important role professional accountants play in their community as the trusted adviser. 

Previous roles Keddie has held include Head of Public Practice and SME with CPA Australia, where she and her team were responsible for the development, servicing, representation, and compliance of CPA Australia public practice members, and Senior Policy Adviser - Financial Planning.

Laura Friedrich is a principal of Friedrich & Friedrich corp, a professional research, standards, and education consultancy firm, and has over 20 years’ experience conducting projects worldwide. The firm focuses on building institutional capacity and developing strategic, policy, program, governance, and ethics guidance for established and emerging professional and regulatory organizations. Previous to this, she worked in education for CPA Canada (then CGA Canada) and in the Greater Vancouver assurance practice of KPMG LLP.

Ms. Friedrich is a contributing author on a number of World Bank publications in the area of competency-based education, training, and certification. She has also served as an author, lecturer, and examiner for numerous post-secondary programs in Canada and internationally, and has guided several institutions in developing and implementing ethics training programs. She has led hundreds of professional development sessions in a wide range of topic areas including ethics, governance, information systems, and curriculum development.

Ms. Friedrich has served on the Ethics Committee of CPA BC and continues to serve on its Bylaws Committee – responsible for the ongoing review of regulatory and professional standards in the jurisdiction, including the CPA Code of Professional Conduct. 

Ms. Friedrich holds a Master of Science in Business Administration (UBC) and is designated as a Certified Internal Auditor (Institute of Internal Auditors). She became a Canadian CPA in 2001, was awarded fellowship in 2011, and was granted life membership in 2014 for her service to the profession in education, ethics, and regulation.

Chantyl Mulder joined SAICA in 1999 to head up the Education and Training division which was newly set up after the education and training of CAs moved from the IRBA to SAICA. Chantyl is also the Chairman of the AAT(SA). She is a former CUT Council member and is currently a WSU Council member and chair of the Finance Committee as well as a member of The Technical Working Group which advises the Human Resource development Council, chaired by the Deputy President, on human resource development in South Africa - which is a ministerial appointment.

Ichiro Waki became a member of the IFAC Professional Accountants in Business (PAIB) Advisory Group in January 2020. He was nominated by the Japanese Institute of Certified Public Accountants (JICPA).

Mr. Ichiro Waki is the Group CEO of JBA Group, who has been established since 2006 with 5 co-partners and now with more than 100 professionals in various areas to provide such consulting services as accounting, tax, legal, labor, IT and recruitment. Before the current career, he has been a financial controller and FP&A in Japanese subsidiaries of the US and European based companies since 1996, and worked as an auditor in Coopers & Lybrand Tokyo since 1992 after he passed the CPA examination while in Waseda University.

Mr. Ichiro Waki has been an executive board member of JICPA since 2019 and served in various volunteer leadership roles with the JICPA, including as Chairperson of PAIB Committee, and as a leadership member of D&I (Diversity and Inclusion). In the past 10 years, he has been working in a committee of JICPA to develop CPE programs (5 years for CPAs in private practice and latest 5 years for PAIBs).