Professional skills – guidance from the ACCA

　　Marks are awarded for professional skills

　　Environmental and social reporting

　　1 Environmental reporting

　　Although not compulsory, environmental reports are becoming increasing important. You should distinguish

　　-items that affect the financial statements (e.g. IAS 37)

　　.items that affect the environmental report

　　Financial reporting: environmental matters may be reported in the accounts of companies in the following areas:

　　. contingent liabilities

　　. exceptional charges

　　. operating and financial review comments

　　. profit and capital expenditure forecasts

　　2 Sustainability

　　The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI): arose from the need to address the failure of the current governance structures to respond to changes in the global economy.

　　3 dimensions of the conventional definition of sustainability: economic, environmental, and social

　　3 Social responsibility

　　The stakeholder view holds that there are many groups in society with an interest in the organization’s activities. Some firms have objectives for these issues. Some argue, however, that a business’s only objective should be to make money: the state, representing the public interest, can levy taxes to spend on socially desirable projects or can regulate organizational activities.

　　A company’s objectives in relation to wider society:

　　. protection of the environment,

　　. support for good causes

　　. a responsible attitude to product safety

　　4 Human resource accounting: is an approach which regards, people as assets.

　　Intellectual assets, or intellectual capital have 3 main types:

　　. External assets

　　. internal assets

　　. competencies