Companies Have Unprecedented Opportunity to Transform How They Manage, Measure and Report the Impact and Value of Their ESG Priorities, Accenture Report Finds
20 Januar 2022 - 11:59AM
Business Wire
In a unique moment, with pressures from
shareholders and stakeholder demands on sustainability growing
exponentially, leaders must bring the right data to decision-makers
that improves business performance
The urgent need for global reporting standards on environmental,
social and governance (ESG) performance that emerged at COP26
through the International Financial Reporting Standards Foundation
(IFRS) is ushering in a new era of measuring the performance of
organizations and redefining what success means for companies,
according to new research from Accenture (NYSE: ACN). According to
the report, while the CEO is at the helm of this seismic shift,
CFOs and other senior leaders must also raise the bar on measuring
and driving better performance that delivers value and impact for
all stakeholders.
“Transparency builds trust — the foundation of strong
partnerships and a compelling reason why people join a company,”
said Julie Sweet, chair and CEO of Accenture. “Using the right
technology and business practices, there is now an opportunity for
organizations to gather comprehensive ESG data that can help
transform how they do business — building accountability across the
organization, achieving global sustainability goals and ultimately
creating greater business value.”
In its Measuring sustainability. Creating value. report,
Accenture analyzed responses from over 640 finance leaders in 12
industries and six countries to understand how companies can better
measure, manage and report ESG performance to fully deliver on
their sustainability commitments. The report found that while the
majority (78%) of finance leaders are seeking to understand the
financial risk to their business that sustainability represents,
only 47% have defined key metrics and data sources for their ESG
reporting.
According to the report, businesses that translate ESG metrics
into key performance indicators (KPIs) to monitor and advance their
progress on concrete sustainability goals are more likely to be
rewarded by the market. Between 2013 and 2020, companies with
consistently high ESG performance tended to score 2.6x higher on
total return to shareholders (TRS) than medium ESG performers.
“The urgent call for a unified set of ESG standards has finally
put sustainability on the priority agenda in the way businesses
report and disclose financial data, making COP26 potentially the
GAAP moment for sustainability,” said Peter Lacy, Accenture’s
global Sustainability Services lead and chief responsibility
officer. “This is not simply a call to improve disclosure and
reporting or tick boxes, but rather an opportunity for
top-to-bottom transformation that enables individuals at all levels
of the organization to make better decisions using new data,
balancing shareholder and stakeholder value on sustainability and
financial performance.”
According to the report, only 26% of companies have clear,
reliable data to measure and monitor their sustainability goals.
The research also found that 70% of companies still use manual or
semi-automated processes for their ESG reporting. Moreover, with
just 31% of companies claiming to have fully embedded ESG data and
measurement in their core operational and management information
systems, it’s clear that sustainability data is not yet treated as
essential business data, despite the impact it can have on an
organization’s bottom line.
A talent gap is also hindering sustainability progress, with
more than half (54%) of leaders citing inadequate skills as a
challenge to measuring and reporting ESG performance, making the
need for leadership from the top even more important.
“Digital and sustainability will be the two driving forces of
competitiveness in this decade. Leaders must now rethink what
performance means in their organizations and devote the same
resources and attention to ESG that they do to financial data
streams if they want to unlock the full value from and impact of
sustainability,” said Jason Dess, global lead, CFO & Enterprise
Value at Accenture. “CFOs will play a central role — as they
allocate capital and oversee performance — in financial reporting
and engaging strategically with the capital markets. They have a
real opportunity to close the ESG data gap by working with a wider
set of ecosystem partners and across their companies to identify,
extract, interpret and report all required data.”
The Accenture report offers companies, and CFOs in particular,
guidance for how to navigate ESG challenges and lead change by
rearchitecting performance rooted in reliable data that can be
measured in an accurate and transparent way. This includes:
- Inform and play a role in shaping the sustainability
strategy – To satisfy market demands and make sure that ESG
reporting remains more of an opportunity than a financial risk,
companies should publicly commit to establishing value targets for
their sustainability strategy and ambition — towards, for example,
net zero, circularity or delivery of the UN Sustainable Development
Goals.
- Focus on measurement, accountability and effective
management – Financial leaders need to assess and shape the
“Sustainability DNA" of their organizations alongside CHROs and
other talent leads; transform the operating model through
organization design and the latest tools and capabilities; and
embed ESG goals and accountability across the business to drive
fundamental shifts towards the creation of value and impact for all
stakeholders.
- Seek the right data to make better decisions at every level,
including using existing and rapidly emerging technology
solutions – Currently, financial and ESG data are not treated
equally. Companies need to recognize and improve how sustainability
data is collected. This includes defining a clear plan to capture
key data; establish quality and readiness systems for disclosure;
design end-state ESG data storage and reporting solutions; and
identify key metrics for value creation and internal
performance.
- Go beyond reporting and disclosure to wholly rethink the
definition of performance and success to stakeholders – Align
on a strong narrative that presents an effective storyline for key
metrics, then build modular, integrated interactive elements — from
voluntary reporting to compliance — that communicate results in a
unified way and take advantage of advances in technology and new
ways of working to drive a new era of performance.
“The Accenture Sustainability Value Promise is to embed
sustainability into everything we do, including in our reporting
with the recent launch of the 360° Value Reporting Experience, a
comprehensive view of our goals, progress and performance of both
financial and ESG measures. We also work closely with our ecosystem
partners — from software and platform leaders to new disruptors —
to build core modules that help our clients measure and manage
performance to drive value and impact,” added Lacy. “As
sustainability measurement matures into an instrument of
transparency it will present organizations a once-in-a-generation
opportunity for new ways of working, new markets to drive value in
and new opportunities for impact across all stakeholders.”
About the Research
Accenture commissioned McGuire Research Services to conduct a
survey of corporate finance leaders on how they approach ESG
measurement and reporting, and the challenges they face. We
surveyed 640 finance leaders, ranging from CFO to Director of
Finance, in August and September 2021. We surveyed leaders at
companies that reported more than $1 billion in revenue, spanning
12 industries and with headquarters in six countries (China,
France, Germany, Italy, the UK and the US). Accenture also convened
and conducted an expert panel discussion at COP26 with six
corporate sustainability leaders in different industries at an
event that took place in Glasgow, Scotland, on November 4,
2021.
About Accenture
Accenture is a global professional services company with leading
capabilities in digital, cloud and security. Combining unmatched
experience and specialized skills across more than 40 industries,
we offer Strategy and Consulting, Interactive, Technology and
Operations services — all powered by the world’s largest network of
Advanced Technology and Intelligent Operations centers. Our 674,000
people deliver on the promise of technology and human ingenuity
every day, serving clients in more than 120 countries. We embrace
the power of change to create value and shared success for our
clients, people, shareholders, partners and communities. Visit us
at accenture.com.
Copyright © 2022 Accenture. All rights reserved. Accenture and
its logo are trademarks of Accenture.
View source
version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220120005395/en/
Alexander Aizenberg Accenture +1 917 452 9878
alexander.aizenberg@accenture.com
Accenture (NYSE:ACN)
Historical Stock Chart
Von Mär 2024 bis Apr 2024
Accenture (NYSE:ACN)
Historical Stock Chart
Von Apr 2023 bis Apr 2024