KUALA LUMPUR (June 9): Accountants are the right people to lead and standardise sustainability reporting. According to Bursa Malaysia chief executive officer Datuk Muhamad Umar Swift, accountants bridge the gap between investors and management, and understand financial reporting. Sime Darby Bhd chief financial officer Mustamir Mohamad added that accountants have a role in standardising sustainability standards because the profession has experience in standardising international accounting standards in the past. As an accountant we also have experience in balancing costs and benefits in financial reporting disclosures, which is a key consideration in getting any company to adopt ESG (environmental, social and governance) reporting guidelines," said Mustamir. He noted that accountants must also develop the knowledge and engage with the relevant stakeholders such as non-governmental organisations to ensure that such sustainability reporting standards are up to scratch.

Source: The Edge Markets June 09, 2021 11:37 UTC