The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) is paving the way for a major update in how accountants are trained, focusing on preparing them for the growing demand for sustainability reporting and practices. This move is designed to ensure that accountants can provide the same quality of sustainability reports as they do financial reports.

Lee White, the CEO of IFAC, emphasized the need for this shift, saying, "Just like investors and other people rely on accountants for clear and useful financial reports, they will need trustworthy reports on sustainability. To keep up with these expectations, accountants need to be trained in new skills that focus on sustainability."

The main changes proposed by IFAC include:

• Teamwork and Expert Collaboration: Accountants will learn how to work effectively with experts from different fields to enhance the quality of sustainability reporting.

• New Concepts in Sustainability: Training will cover new areas like systems thinking (understanding how parts of a company impact each other and the environment), value chains (how a product moves from creation to customer), and scenario analysis (predicting future possibilities).

• Standards and Assurance: Accountants will get familiar with the leading standards for sustainability reporting and how to assure the accuracy and reliability of these reports.

• New Skills in Assurance: A new section on how to check and confirm sustainability information will be added to their learning outcomes.

Additionally, IFAC plans to update its standards on assessing the competence of professional accountants (IES 6). These changes aim to modernize how accountants' skills and readiness are evaluated, with a stronger emphasis on values like integrity, authenticity, equity, and inclusion.

To help accountants and others understand these changes, IFAC will host global webinars on May 21. For more details and to sign up, visit the IFAC website.

IFAC is inviting feedback on these proposed changes until July 24, 2024. Stakeholders can use the Response Templates on the IFAC website to provide their comments. This is a step towards ensuring that accountants are well-equipped to meet the challenges of sustainability reporting and contribute effectively to a sustainable future.