Welcome to the convergence of accounting and climate positive action for long term resilience. How the two were apart for so long is another topic, likely rooted in the rise of capitalism. I am still working on the framework and discovering the below grid is a massive help. The pressure to develop the one-size-fits-all approach is off! Every business is different. Every person running a business will have their own views. That’s why going back to basics helps. Values that underpin every action. And transparency. No Greenwashing here!
When accountants in private practice crunch their client’s numbers they usually see the totals of 12 months and then compare the years and Income vs Expenses. Then there are reconciliations of bank accounts, GST, payroll, fixed assets and stock. Adjusting for private use, and bringing in bills and invoices not yet paid at balance date. Then chat about the tax and maybe plan cashflow for the near future and highlight other things observed that happened.
When I read Project Drawdown I was amazed at the future savings of trillions of dollars the team calculated. In Germany in my work as an accountant we were looking at far out future business risks and called them provisions or reserves. Not really related to climate problems because there weren’t any! No one was aware of anything other than increasing profits and growing the business.
Now that we know so much more, every business must do better. Accountants can inform and educate so many small businesses. There are over 32,000 registered accountants and approximately 546,000 small businesses (under 10 employees) in New Zealand.
So here is the call to the accountants to be climate accountants. And help their clients to create climate jobs.
Let’s start. Send this to your accountant.