[GreenBiz]: The change from one-dimensional
financial reporting to three-dimensional ‘triple bottom line’ (TBL)
reporting has created new challenges… [which] will require management accountants and other financial
professionals to adapt and learn some new skills.
Here are a few questions you can
ask that will enable you to foresee if better management of economic,
environmental and social issues can make your organization more
sustainable.
– How does information flow?
– How risky is our position?
– What is our source of competitive advantage?
Good questions. The article summarizes the conclusions of Sustainability: The Role of Accountants, a report from the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW).
OTOH, as Thomas Johnson observes in Relevance Lost: The Rise and Fall of Management Accounting, ‘TODAY’S management accounting information, driven by the procedures and
cycle of the organization’s financial reporting system, is too late,
too aggregated, and too distorted to be relevant for managers’ planning
and control decisions.‘
Big challenges ahead.