Accounting for sustainability - BCom students get behind the UN SDGs

Responsible leadership is the cornerstone of the chartered accountancy profession. It is a distinguishing characteristic that sets chartered accountants CAs(SA) apart and holds them accountable for their actions and behaviour.

Part of being a responsible citizen is to ensure that all you do works to serve the greater public interest.

As the custodian of the chartered accountancy profession, the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA), believes that it is the duty of all its CAs(SA) to act within parameters of citizenship and has gone one step further to entrench citizenship into its revised continue professional learnings outcomes.

For aspiring CAs(SA) these outcomes are being entrenched in a different way. One of which is the annual Student Leadership Summit (or SLS) where students are invited to showcase projects with impact by submitting a SDG focused business case to the competition panel that illustrates how they are empowering and improving the world – one SDG at a time.

Why the focus on SDGs?

The SDGs serve as a framework for the sustainable change the world needs to provide solutions for poverty, world hunger, poor health, the lack of quality education, climate change, gender inequality, access to clean water and sanitation, environmental issues, social injustice and more.

“As SAICA, we run SLS as an action based competition focussing specifically on the SDGs to ensure students are aligned with the profession’s - and indeed businesses’ – commitment to sustainability as well as making a difference in the world around you,” explains Teboho Moephudi, Project Director for SAICA’s university projects.

How do students enter?

The Student Leadership Summit is open to students who are studying towards a BCom CA-Stream qualification at a SAICA-accredited institution.

To enter the 2020 SLS, students must visit SAICA’s SLS website, fill in the entry form and submit their community project's business plan using the template provided on the website.

The top five teams (a minimum of one person and maximum of five) will compete for the chance to win first prize in early November at a virtual prize-giving Summit where they'll be awarded with prizes including leadership coaching, business mentoring, money towards their project and more.

The winning team will win money to start their community project as well as individual prizes.

Entries for the 2020 SLS are now open. They close on 4 October 2020.