Nieuws 09 februari 2009

Duurzaamheidsraamwerk biedt 'holistische kijk' op mvo

De Professional Accountants in Business (PAIB) Committee van de IFAC hoopt met het ontwikkelde 'Sustainability Framework' accountants in business en hun organisaties een geïntegreerde manier van denken en werken op het gebied van duurzaamheid aan te reiken.

New IFAC Sustainability Framework Supports Organizations in Improving Products, Lowering Costs, and Raising Good Will

The Professional Accountants in Business (PAIB) Committee of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) has developed a comprehensive Sustainability Framework to support professional accountants and their organizations in integrating a sustainable way of thinking and working in all business processes. The Framework illustrates how a commitment to sustainability can help to further improve an organization's products or services, motivate its people, lower its costs and enhance its reputation. 

Designed from four different perspectives - business strategy, internal management, financial investors, and other stakeholders - the new Framework challenges conventional ways of thinking about economic, social and environmental achievements. It also promotes the injection of sustainability leadership into the full management cycle, from making and executing strategic decisions to reporting on performance to all stakeholders. 

Roger Adams, chair of the PAIB Committee's Sustainability Framework Project, highlights the holistic view of sustainability taken by the Framework: "It recognizes the importance of the three main dimensions of sustainability: economic viability, social responsibility, and environmental responsibility, as well as their interconnectivity. We hope that this Sustainability Framework provides the means and motivation for professional accountants to address sustainability issues with greater vigor." 

"Although the accounting sector itself might be considered a relatively low-impact sector in terms of direct environmental and social impacts, it is the accountant's involvement in the twin issues of organizational decision-making and external reporting that imposes on the accountancy profession the responsibility for understanding, absorbing and articulating the implications of the sustainable development debate," emphasizes Mr. Adams. 

IFAC's Sustainability Framework is a web-based tool that allows users to easily navigate those sustainability issues that are most important to their immediate roles and to select and use those examples of good sustainability practice that can work in their organizations.