Accountancy profession and natural capital go together, says report

The issue of Natural Capital Accounting (NCA) is a concept that should be promoted among businesses, investors, governments and wider society, according to three leading professional, campaigning and business organisations.

In their latest joint paper, The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), Flora & Fauna International (FFI) and the Big 4 firm KPMG highlight the importance of NCA across a wide range of operations.

Growing interest

The report hones in on the growing interest in NCA and how it is driving initiatives and developing tools and frameworks.

Head of business insight at ACCA, Faye Chua explained: "The modern accountant has a responsibility to ensure today’s businesses are able to operate long into the future. It is important therefore that the finance function is wise to the potential weaknesses of financial systems in their ability to protect natural capital."

"As with everything that presents both risk and opportunity for the business, finance professionals need to make sure they facilitate high-quality management decision making when it comes to Natural Capital. To do that, they must gain a deeper understanding of how other business disciplines approach natural capital issues and use that knowledge to identify new ways of thinking about the value it can bring," Chua added.

Accountancy role

Senior Manager of Sustainability Services at KPMG in the UK, Gordon Wilson commented: "I see the role of the accountant as a crucial one as NC accounting and reporting develops. This role is to connect the complex world of NCA and align it to how business leaders think, make decisions, operate and report their performance to their investors and wider stakeholders."