SMPs (accountants) and their role in the face of new sustainability reports

Abstract

In recent years, the non-financial information or sustainability reporting has experienced exponential interest and increase. Undoubtedly, the impetus that led to continued work with more intensity in this line was the so-called “Green Deal” that the European Commission announced in 2019. The steps to reform the directives with relations or influence on non-financial information or sustainability have meant that, in some way, the information requirements by all stakeholders in this process have increased. Therefore, the information corporations must prepare and publish is not only restricted to traditional financial information included in their financial statements but also includes non-financial or sustainability information. SMPs (accountants) can and should advise our companies, entities, and institutions where we work, we are partners, or they are our clients, on how they can adopt sustainable management practices within the so-called ESG and improve their sustainability performance. We certainly have a crucial role in supporting the quest for sustainability and a sustainable economy in the EU. This presents a double challenge, namely a significant opportunity and responsibility, for which our profession is undoubtedly prepared and will continue to grow in the coming years. In this area, two new facts were key in 2022, to be highlighted with the content of this article and that demonstrate the determined impulse of the EU in this area: on the one hand, the approval of the so called CSRD Directive and, on the other, the elaboration of the draft of the first group of European standards for corporate
reporting on sustainability (ESRS). – SET 1), which has recently been adopted as a delegated act of the European Commission, and we are awaiting final publication by the European Parliament and Council for effective use from 1 January 2024.