SGV Financial Accounting Advisory Services (FAAS) and Climate Change and Sustainability Services (CCaSS) Partner Benjamin N. Villacorte (BNV) and CCaSS Senior Director Crystal Aleli R. Cornell were resource speakers in the Sustainability and Integrated Reporting: Leading Beyond the Numbers webinar organized by the Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants (PICPA) Quezon Province Chapter on 11 November 2022.
Benjamin and Crystal accept their virtual certificates
Benjamin talked about sustainability reporting and assurance and creating long-term value with sustainability, specifically the concept of sustainability and its four pillars (economic, environment, social, and governance), the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, the relevance of sustainability, and the drivers of long-term value creation such as institutional investors; standard setters, regulators, and government; and employees, consumers, and society.
Benjamin also shared the long-term value framework based on the premise that long-term shareholder value is driven by meeting the demands of stakeholders. He quoted Steve Varley and Steven Lewis saying that there is a need to have a stronger connection between the financial and non-financial aspects of the business – otherwise the true costs and opportunities are not properly measured. Other topics covered during Benjamin’s discussion were the global sustainability reporting ecosystem, journey towards reliable sustainability reporting, and the benefits of sustainability reporting assurance.
Crystal, on the other hand, discussed the global developments and regulatory landscape of sustainability reporting, as well as sustainability reporting in the Philippines. She also shared highlights from SGV’s publication titled “Beyond the Bottom Line: Sustainability Reporting in the Philippines,” where SGV's CCaSS team reviewed how listed companies responded to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC’s) call to publish sustainability reports since 2019. She concluded the presentation by highlighting how accountants can lead sustainability and climate action and encouraged the participants to start their companies’ sustainability journey.
