Deterioration in natural resources will impact on business in 2024

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The report, entitled 'Sustainability and Business: The Next Ten Years', focused on three main factors:

• the instability of financial markets;
  
• the deterioration of natural resources; and
  
• the global population explosion.

The findings of this report varied from continent to continent, but they all lead to one conclusion. 81% of the students believe that the deterioration in natural resources would have the most impact on business in 2024. While in South Africa, 70% of students believe that the growth in global population would have the most impact in business. A further 67% of respondents in the Caribbean and Africa believe that the instability in financial markets would leave its effects in business operating there.

The role of financial professionals goes beyond activities that affect the profit of the organisation they work for, but the role requires one's activities to positively impact the world they live in, and leave it in a better state than before. The ACCA report seeks to see what professionals believe the business world will be like in 2024.

Significant progress

Looking at the past decade, Sarah Nolleth, the director of A4S, says significant progress has been made to develop practical approaches that integrate sustainability into financial decision-making, reflecting the interdependency between financial, economic, social and environmental outcomes.

But, as much as progress is visible, she was careful to urge young accounting professionals and veterans to prepare themselves for the approaching changes. "However, we will all see the consequences of global environmental constraints, especially the accountancy students who are at the beginning of their financial careers. It is this cohort who we need to encourage to adopt accounting for sustainability throughout their careers."

Financial professionals need to realise that this approach is of utmost importance. "It is positive that many more believe that sustainability issues will become more central to their area of work," says Ewan Williams, director of Policy at ACCA.

"The ACCA finance professionals of the future see the next ten years as being one of change - they know that as finance professionals they will have to do more to provide businesses with decision-making insight than now - such as forecasting and reporting on what might happen in the future, rather than recording what has happened. But they are attuned to this need and that bodes well for the future," Williams says.