EY, CIMA and ICAEW stand up for kindness and fairness
EY, CIMA and the ICAEW have signed a letter coordinated by the UN Global Compact Network UK and UKSSD, urging the Prime Minister for a socially just and green recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.
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Oh my ... this is really important.
SO much has come out of the Pandemic - one thing that is inescapable is how we are all connected.
And now we can see clearly that there is a pathway forward - one that has Accountants right in the front of things which is where they always should have been, helping businesses thrive.
Let's be clear. Accountants change lives.
There's never been a time like now when that focus is so needed.
The ICAEW deserves so much praise for taking a stand. All we need now is for Members and the businesses they work for and with to stand up to.
This really can be THE tipping point to a much brighter future for us all.
Oh my ... this is really important.
SO much has come out of the Pandemic - one thing that is inescapable is how we are all connected.
And now we can see clearly that there is a pathway forward - one that has Accountants right in the front of things which is where they always should have been, helping businesses thrive.
Let's be clear. Accountants change lives.
There's never been a time like now when that focus is so needed.
The ICAEW deserves so much praise for taking a stand. All we need now is for Members and the businesses they work for and with to stand up to.
This really can be THE tipping point to a much brighter future for us all.
Great work Steve on sharing what leaders in and outside of our profession want to help make the world a better place for everyone.
It’s so important to remember too that making the world a better place is within the hands of accountants and bookkeepers throughout the world. There’s huge power in the simple and small acts we can provide clients.
Accountants and bookkeepers can give business owners clarity on their numbers leading to better decisions being made. And as a result that leads to a better business, a better life for the owner, their family and team and ultimately to a better world.
Thank you Steve for continuing to do what you do not just for the profession but for the whole planet too.
Clients tend to assume that all advisors are competent, so they choose to work with someone that they’re on the same wave length with. 5 years ago that was ‘accountants that wear jeans’ but as the world becomes more focused on community and sustainability, the advisors that wear those credentials will be the ones clients and staff gravitate towards. Not only is it the right thing to do, it is the right thing to do in business too. I’m with you.
People with power and responsibility should have been lobbying the government ages ago. It shouldn't take a pandemic for all of us to realise that unrestricted consumerism & consumption are unsustainable in the long term.
It requires a change in each individuals habits and mindset about what's important in life
Alas I fear this will not change. In one year two years it will be forgotten and we will be back to our old ways.
I believe this is inevitable and governments cannot change this. This is about education and aspiration not about this obsession the world has with growth and greed
One worries that this is all assumptive of a certain level of wealth/disposable funds.
Margins will be hard pressed over the next years - additionally more so at the initial burst of 'independence from Chinese manufacturers/self sufficiency' (which will soon wear off).
But I suppose that accountants, esp. those with substantive audit business, aren't really interested in their clients margins as long as they're solvent.
You can't do owt with nowt.
And it's all virtue signalling.
If people really want to do something,
Don't buy a car-walk or cycle
Don't buy cheap products made by company's that don't treat their workers properly
Don't buy so much!
Fly less
No use talking about it like alot of so called ''famous people do' and the UN is a waste of space and needs reforming
Do you think China, Russia et al really care about what the UN say?
'Be the change you wish to see in the world' - Mahatma Gandhi
And what does the government do. - Please go out and spend!
In my opinion it makes no difference trying to persuade businesses, governments, the UN and everyone else.
In the end it comes down to individual behaviour.
We have to change the way people think about consumption and what they aspire to do and to be.
If people change their behaviour businesses will automatically change. It's a waste of effort trying to persuade businessmen, entrepeneurs to be better.
People are generally motivated by greed, want a bigger house, bigger car, nicer watch, diamonds, better holiday, new iphone. It's what we call capitalism & consumerism which really started to explode in the 1970's and has exponentially increased since then. It's ingrained in everything.
Don't know how old your children are but try and talk to a teenager about why they don't need the latest iphone even though they had a new one last year. They are brainwashed by everything they come into contact with. Their friends, the TV, facebook, instagram, influencers even the government.
The message is spend and buy. And it's an emotional spend (that's how advertising works). Buy because people feel better about themselves if they drive that better car etc. They don't care where their products are sourced or whether they need them.
I'm afraid the Genie is probably out of the bottle. This is really difficult to change, but requires education of people and why economic growth for growth's sake is not necessarily a healthy thing.
I am also guilty.
And the one other elephant in the room is population growth
In 1970 there were 3.7BN people in the world. In 2019 there were 7.8BN. Figure that, more than double the people to feed, house, keep warm, consume, pollute
I do not have the answers to these difficult issues I'm afraid but I think lobbying the UN or trying to persuade a few businesses to be more sustainable is not going to cut it.
It would be too easy to row back from supporting the poorer nations as we rebuild our domestic economy, but now more than ever we need to play our role on the global stage. It was a great start hosting the Global Vaccination Summit earlier this month, we are one of the very few countries fulfilling our promise of spending 0.7% of GDP on overseas development and now we can show the World that despite the ravages caused at home with the Covid-19 pandemic we still recognise the critical importance of continuing to support the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Margaret Atwood put it perfectly: I hope that people will finally come to realise that there is only one race - the human race - and that we are all members of it.
The ICAEW were not particularly kind to the two members in the earlier article.
However they can now tick another box ! .