A definition: Materiality is an accounting principle which states that all items that are reasonably likely to impact investors' decision-making must be recorded or reported in detail in a business's financial statements using GAAP standards.

Source: HBS On-Line

Why Sustainability Accounting is Important

The supply chain professional requires accurate information from multiple internal and external sources to develop strategies, establish performance metrics, choose supply sources, build schedules, and monitor execution performance.  Finance and accounting are one of those critical information sources.  Any significant change in their focus is essential information to supply chain professionals. 

A change has developed within finance and accounting driven by the threat posed by global warming.  The following paragraphs describe these new developments as well as the actionable content of the webinar.

Eco-sustainable business management is based on operations data and standardized metrics that enable performance comparisons between companies on traditional measures.  And on the new requirement to identify and inventory the current level of GHG emissions and excessive water usage and reduce both in a structured, preplanned, and timely manner.  These new measures indicate that an organization's leadership understands the existence of the previously hidden costs of pollution and recognition of its future financial risk.  The response to global warming has now been monetized!

Another reason to incorporate these new measures is that investors now expect companies to use Sustainability Accounting (SA) Standards to find, measure and manage data and material metrics for eco-sustainability.

  An example of these investor expectations is the institutional investors who are members of the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), a respected forum for organizations to communicate their commitment to combat the destructive aspects of global warming. These institutional investors manage over one-hundred and ten trillion US dollars and view the lack of a GHG emissions reduction and water use plan, or one considered inadequate, as high-risk indicators.  The new formula = no plan, or inadequate plan = high risk = don’t invest!

The new International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) will soon publish standards for many sectors to enable global performance comparisons on such critical metrics as carbon emissions and water use. Sustainability Accounting is quickly moving from emergent to a mainstream field, with leading accounting associations publishing guidance on how to do it.  Sustainability accounting is the foundation for focused metrics in supply chain management, human resources, energy, stakeholder engagement, and more.

What You'll Learn from This Webinar

1. The origins of Sustainability Accounting (SA)
2. What leading organizations have implemented SA
3. A comparison of their approaches and recommendations
4. A financial reporting framework for SA
5. Use of metrics from the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board and others
6. A "Hidden Trove" of business sustainability solutions
7. Hands-on implementation steps
8. What valuable and practical reference documents are available via the web

About the Speaker

Burt Hamner studied marine biology at Harvard and received a master’s degree in business administration and Marine Affairs at the University of Washington.

In 1991 he joined the Washington Department of Ecology in its new program, Pollution Prevention Planning for business.  Burt helped 112 companies prepare 5-year Pollution Prevention plans meeting state requirements.  In 1993 he wrote the first state Environmental Cost Accounting guidance for evaluating potential investments in clean technologies. He taught Environmental Accounting seminars to the Washington Society of CPAs (WSCPA).

Burt became the lead Clean Technologies consultant in Asia and South America for the US Agency for International Development.  

In 2019 Burt returned to his accounting interest and founded Sustainability CPE Inc to teach professionals accredited courses on sustainability skills. He partnered again with WSCPA and launched his first webinar, Sustainability Accounting Overview, and Hands-On. The webinar earns Continuing Professional Education credits for accountants and is accessible to all. Some of Burt's publications on sustainable business are available on his Linkedin profile.

Who Should Attend This Webinar?

• Finance and accounting professionals
• Investor relations staff
• C-suite members
• Those responsible for ESG report development
• Supply chain professionals
• Manufacturing operations management
• Those interest in all aspects of eco-sustainability

Agenda

• 11:00 –11:05 AM: Sign-in, say hello
• 11:05 – 12:00 PM: Presentation
• 12:00 - 12:15 PM: Q&A

Questions? Preston - [email protected]