1. Evolution of Corporate Sustainability Practices: Emerging Opportunities for CPAs
AICPA E.D.G.E Conference
Ritz-Carlton, New Orleans
August 10-12, 2011
Kenneth W. Witt, CPA
Technical Manager, AICPA
kwitt@aicpa.org

2. Speaker Bio
3. Agenda
4. Sustainability Acronym Decoder
5. Philanthropy
Community Involvement
Health
Education
Employee Relations
Ethics/Governance
Human Rights
Social Responsibility
6. Environmental Responsibility What are the Impacts?
Environmental Lenses
7. Where are Impacts Found?
8. Levi Strauss Life Cycle of a Jean
Recycling
6
1
7
Cotton Production
End of Life
Consumer Use
Fabric Production
2
5
Transport &
Distribution
Garment Manufacture
4
3
9. Sustainability for Business Value
$160 Million
Total Cumulative Results 2008-2009
10. Sustainability for Competitive Advantage
MacBook Air and the environment
Apple greener than its competitors, at least where it counts.Sincerely Sustainable
11. Green Exchange
Nike
Best Buy
Creative Commons
IDEO
Mountain Equipment Coop
Outdoor Industry Association
Salesforce.com
2Degrees
Yahoo
Innovation and Open Collaboration
12. BIG Four Sustainability
13. Prince of Wales Accounting for Sustainability Project -A4S
Primary Objectives
Connected Reporting
Embedding Sustainability
AICPA a founding member of Accounting Bodies Network
14. The CPA Role in Sustainability
15. Sustainability Competency Domains
BIG
Public
Practice
16. Finance Function Involvement in Sustainability Survey Results
AICPA Results
Analysis 44%
KPI Tracking 21%
External Reporting -12 %
Sample
22,943 C-Suite
Response
651 SME
184 Large(>1000 employees)
17. 18. 19. If sustainability reporting is to be credible as it necessarily must be when reports contain information that qualifies as material to financial performance the process must be disciplined, comprehensive and, above all, accurate.
Steve Leffin, UPS
20. 21. Voluntary GHG Reporting
22. 23. De-facto standard for sustainability reporting
79 ES&G indicators, plus content and quality principles
Stakeholder engagement and education tool
Key content source for integrated reporting
24. International Integrated Reporting Committee Mission Statement
To create a globally accepted integrated reporting framework which brings together financial, environmental, social and governance informationin a clear, concise, consistent and comparable format.
25. Why do we need Integrated Reporting?
26. Focusing on the
top slice
Top- level structure for reporting pyramid
Greater linkage between existing reporting silos
Sustainability / ESG
MD&A
Financial Reporting
Management
Commentary
Adapted from IIRC
27. Principles of Integrated Reporting
28. Whats
Missing?
Making the connection
29. Connected Reporting Example - Greenhouse Gases
Non-Financial Indicators
Financial Performance
KPI
30. 2011
2012
2013
Corporate Pilot Program
Investor Pilot Program
Ongoing Stakeholder Engagement
Standard Setters, Regulators, Others
31. 32. AICPA - SOP 03-02 Attest Engagements on GHG Emissions Information
Guidance for practitioners on:
GHG emissions inventory or baseline
GHG emissions reduction
Exam level engagements Reasonable Assurance
Review engagements Limited Assurancenot covered by SOP 03-2
33. GHG Assurance Issues/Risks
Specialized skills, knowledge, expertise
Scope, materiality, consistency
Boundary issues ownership, control
Baseline measurement / Reduction additionality
Uncertainty in measurement
Inherent uncertainty
Control risk
34. ISAE 3410 ED Assurance Engagements on Greenhouse Gas Statements Key Issues
Use of ISAEs by other than professional accountants
Compliance with IESBA Ethics Standards, or other equivalent
AICPA Comments Specific cite + affirmative statement
Limited assurance engagements and report
Varying levels of limited assurance, based on procedures performed
AICPA Comments Summary of procedures may infer greater level of assurance than reasonable assurance opinion
Inclusion of recommendations in practitioners assurance report
Accepted practice in international community AA 1000
AICPA Comments confuses substance of practitioner conclusion
35. To the best of our knowledge, we have found that Southwest has satisfactorily applied the GRI sustainability
reporting framework
36. Third-party assurance and the value it brings to ones credibility is not a nice to have it is necessary. Steve Leffin
37. 38. Thank You
Additional Resources
www.aicpa.org/sustainability