Overview

Governments, organisations and individuals are recognising the need to be sustainable. However, there is widespread confusion over what specific action needs to be taken and how progress in this field can be measured.

The accountancy profession is really well placed to analyse and report on ESG performance in order to understand and manage the considerable risks and opportunities that are arising.

The problem we have is what do we need to do and what should we measure? And crucially how do we do it? These are very real questions in a complex landscape of guidance and regulation.

This introductory half day session will equip finance professionals with a better understanding of ESG and demonstrate how and why accountants are ideally positioned to lead on this global challenge. It will explore the latest developments in this field, focussing on the recently issues IFRS S1 General Requirements for Disclosure and IFRS S2 Climate-related Disclosures and provide a portfolio of practical steps that accountants and finance professionals can take to ensure their organisation is ready to face the dramatic changes ahead of us.

This course includes:

  • What do we mean by ESG and why should we care?
  • Discussion of what is meant by climate change risks and opportunities and associated financial implications
  • Discussion of why ESG issues are important for your/your clients organisations
  • Acknowledgements of the challenges around collecting, analysing and reporting ESG information​​
  • The requirements of the current reporting landscape and the challenges we face in reporting
  • An understanding of the UN SDG's and how they work.
  • An introduction the standards recently issued by the ISSB - IFRS S1 and S2
  • Opportunity for practical application

This event was recorded on 27 November 2023.

Speaker

Helen Kerrigan

Helen is a director of Future Finance Training Ltd. She qualified as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG in 2001. During her time at KPMG, she audited clients in the retail sector, worked as a forensic accountant on an international project and enjoyed a secondment to Walmart’s commercial finance team, where she focused on budgeting and analysis. On secondment to KPMG’s learning and development team Helen discovered a love of training and had the opportunity to develop her expertise in this area.

Helen designs and delivers training materials for AICPA, ACCA, AAT, CIMA and ICAEW focussing on financial reporting and audit and assurance. She also delivers ‘finance for non-financial managers’ training to major commercial banks and other clients in industry. Recently Helen has been delivering Strategic Business Reporting, Advanced Audit and Assurance train the trainer programmes globally for ACCA.

Helen designs and delivers technical update for accountants working in practice. Recently she has worked with Gateley plc, ACCA, NHS, Centrica, Adidas and Jaguar Land Rover. Most recently for IFRS CPD sessions Helen has been focussing on the exciting topics of revenue recognition, lease accounting and financial instruments.