Accountants\' role in achieving SDGs

The United Nations (UN) officially came into existence 70 years ago with 51 countries on October 24, 1945 after the Second World War when there had been a global demand for peace. The primary responsibility of the UN is to maintain international peace and security. But over the years, it has done a lot in reducing poverty, protecting human rights, preventing conflicts, delivering human aid and upholding international laws. Today, the UN, with its 193 member-states, has decided to work more to eliminate poverty and hunger from the world, protect the planet from pollution, foster peace and prosperity and strengthen regional and global partnership for sustainable development. It is indeed, the greatest move by the UN to transform the world by 2030 into a hunger and poverty-free liveable habitat of peace and prosperity.
The UN General Assembly adopted a historic resolution 'The 2030 agenda for sustainable development' on September 25, 2015. This new universal agenda includes 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets. This agenda is a plan of action for people, prosperity and planet. The UN member-states have committed to achieve SDGs by next 15 years but it is not an issue of the governments of the member- states; it is an agenda of the whole mankind of the world.  
During the last 15 years, the world achieved major targets of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) but the progress has not been uniform, particularly in Africa, least developed countries, landlocked developing countries and small island developing states. Due to obvious reason and reality, MDGs could not cover the whole mankind but for SDGs no one would be left behind. Moreover, SDGs target not only to reduce but to eliminate poverty from the entire world. This is the greatest challenge.
The SDGs agenda is a plan of action having three dimensions which are as follows:   
People: Ending poverty from the world in all its forms, eliminating hunger, achieving food security, improving nutrition, ensuring healthy lives, promoting well-being of people in all ages, achieving gender equality, reducing inequality, empowering all women and girls, increasing number of cities and human settlements, reducing violence and abuse, promoting the rule of law, ensuring equal opportunity, equitable quality education, safe and affordable housing and also access to affordable modern energy for all.  
Planet: Taking urgent action to combat adverse impacts of the climate change, getting economic benefits of marine resources without polluting the oceans and seas, conserving at least ten per cent of coastal and marine areas, protecting forest and halting biodiversity loss. Prosperity: Promoting sustainable agriculture, promoting sustainable economic growth of all member-states, building resilient infrastructure, promoting sustainable  industrialisation, fostering innovation, creating employment opportunities and decent work for all, planning for efficient use of natural resources, promoting public procurement practices, encouraging companies to provide transparent information, reducing corruption and bribery, promoting international support to strengthen domestic resource mobilisation, improving domestic capacity for tax and other revenue collection, mobilising official development assistance (ODA) and additional financial resources for developing countries and strengthening global partnership for sustainable development.
Accountants know the language of finance, business, industry and sustainability. They are in a position to support businesses and investments for creating social benefits and helping the businesses and industries to grow further. So, they can work for the prosperity of the people and put positive contribution for the sustainable socio-economic development.
The SDGs have a link with accounting and auditing profession because financing will be a major challenge for attaining the new global targets.  As a matter of fact, developing countries will need substantial amount of foreign aids and loans for sustainable development and the international donors and lenders will want to see transparent uses of funds they will be providing for development.  Needless to say, public funds as well as foreign aid and debt will be used with honesty for specific purposes only. So, accurate and adequate financial information, statements and disclosures will be needed to assess utilisation of funds and development works. These issues can better be addressed by accountants because they have the ability and professional expertise to provide authentic and transparent reports on which international development partners can rely and provide aid and loan.
Accountants primarily provide financial services to the corporate world which plays an important role for industrialisation, job creation and collection of taxes and other revenues. They can analyse business information to identify both risks and opportunities and focus on the organisation's ability to continue as a viable concern. They can give more disclosure on long-term business benefits, continuity, stability and sustainability in their reports to make public enterprises and corporate world transparent and accountable.
The main challenge for the world is to eliminate corruption. Today, financial frauds, bribery, tax evasion, illegal transfer of money, terror financing, and money laundering and unethical business practices have been identified as major problems for socio-economic growth. In this regard, accountants can act as gate-keepers to prevent accounting and financial frauds and protect public interest using accounting techniques under the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).
Industrialisation, the economic target of the new global action plan, will need efficient enterprise management and effective corporate governance where accountants can act as catalysts to improve both financial and enterprise management. Accountants' services are related to profit maximisation and sustainable growth through best utilisation of enterprise resources. So, in this particular area, accountants can provide strategic business information to achieve organisational goals under business laws, norms and ethics.
Poverty elimination and economic emancipation are very much interlinked. Poverty can be eliminated if we can create jobs and employment opportunities boosting agriculture, industry, trade and businesses. For this, all the sectors of the economies of the countries around the world will grow simultaneously and for that purpose, we need to mobilise financial resources efficiently. The professional accountants have the ability and proven records to ensure best utilisation of financial resources.
The SDGs emphasise on promoting international support to strengthen domestic resource mobilisation and improving domestic capacity for tax and other revenue collection for sustainable development. Professional accountants are well trained to discover the holes of tax evasions through accounting engineering including transfer pricing techniques. Countries around the world are working to improve global economic and tax cooperation. Accountants are well-organised through national, regional and international accounting bodies and as such, they can cooperate with each other sharing knowledge and experiences and help their respective governments to get due taxes and improve economic governance.
Matters of business and professional ethics are also very important for sustainable development. The new universal plan gives emphasis that action of one country should not harm the business and economic growth of the other unethically. Professional accountants by nature adhere to professional ethics and integrity and as such, they can help the decision-makers to do fair businesses.
The SDGs also seek to promote fair public procurement practices and encourage companies to provide transparent information. Matters of public procurement have direct relation with public interest and accountants have the responsibilities to protect public interest balancing between their performance and conformity. Financial information is the most important part of corporate reports and the professional accountants are in key positions to provide transparent financial and business information to both internal and external users and stakeholders. As such, accountants can act as guard against unethical business behaviour and stock market manipulation.
The 15 years' long journey for achieving SDGs has begun. Global leaders now look forward to reach the destination by 2030. But things are not that easy because achieving at least 7 per cent growth of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in developing countries as a whole on a sustained basis will be a big challenge for them. So, the post-2015 global development agenda really needs a kick-start to stimulate collective action for achieving the new universal goals and targets. It is also important to create a wider awareness on SDGs and further strengthen both regional and global partnership avoiding conflicts, border tension, war and unethical international business competition.
The UN has adopted the SDGs for greater interests of the human race. It is an agenda of the people, by the people and for the people. In order to realise the collective ambitions, the global leaders have committed to work tirelessly. But the most important collective task for them for achieving SDGs will be to grow a sense of responsibility, morality and high standard ethics and integrity among the people of all segments of the society including accountants.
The SDGs demand that accountants will give due importance to financial matters related to risk and long-term consequences. They should not ignore the risk factors and sustainability reporting guidelines. They should report both financial and non-financial matters as well as internal and external risks, benefits and opportunities of the organisation. In this regard, accountants should help companies and organisations to prepare reports in the framework provided by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC).
Apart from this, accountants will be completely aware of WorldCom, Enron and Satyam type situations and establish their image as custodians of ethics and integrity. They will have to act as guardians of ethical business and human behaviour to achieve socio-economic targets of the SDGs and make sure that bad things reported in their reports earlier are not repeated. They should do ethical practices and refrain from accounting engineering that misguides the stakeholders and the investors. Accountants should act to guide the people always, but never misguide. They should also act as gate-keepers to detect accounting and financial frauds and combat corruption to help achieve the SDGs.
The SDGs really need a change in attitude of global leaders to uphold humanity and public interest and grow together. Extensive motivation programme need to be started to bring changes in human behaviour of making money ignoring ethics, standards, public interest, social obligation and environmental issues. Accountants should also bring changes in their professional practices and do more than traditional book-keeping of financial transactions and providing financial reports. They should now generate and provide reliable financial as well as operational information for sustainable growth of the organisation and protect public interest as well. Today's accountants should also realise that their accountability is not limited to their own organisation; they are also accountable to the nation, to the seven billion people of this planet and also to the future generation.  
Abu sayed Md. Shaykhul Islam FCMA is a professional management consultant and President of the Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Bangladesh.  
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