Critical consciousness is imperative to integrate sustainability and governance into the workplace culture, specifically, and the finance profession, more broadly.
To re-shape business as usual, leaders and accounting educators need to be mindful of how they frame the role of finance in organisations.
The president and vice president of the British Accounting and Finance Association (BAFA) discuss how the finance function is changing (and needs to change) in ‘Sustainability Starts Inside: Culture, Governance and the Future of the Profession’.
Accounting is not just business as usual.
The scope of finance has expanded to include non-financial data regarding environment, social, and governance (ESG); and the implementation of artificial intelligence and automation allows accountants to focus more on strategy.
Collins G. Ntim, PhD, CPA, FAcSS, Professor of Accounting, University of Southampton Business School, put a fine point on the current state of accountancy: ‘Finance has moved far beyond bookkeeping. It’s now a profession at the forefront of value creation, helping boards and organisations make strategic investment decisions rather than simply recording information’.
Joan Ballantine, PhD, Professor at University of Ulster, agrees that finance has broadened significantly. For accountants to meet the demands of the present and the future, she said ‘accounting degrees must reflect the broader role accountants now play, supporting accountability for economic, social, and environmental impacts, not just producing financial reports’.
The Quality Assurance Agency Accounting Benchmark Statement defines and outlines what an accounting degree should look like, and an accounting degree must reflect what the profession is — no longer narrow reporting, but robust ethical and professional judgment and accountability for ESG.
To ensure accounting degrees are fit for purpose, Joan said, ‘sustainability and ethics can’t sit in isolated modules; they need to be embedded across the curriculum so future accountants develop genuine critical consciousness, not just technical competence’.
Collins agreed, ‘The scope of finance has broadened dramatically. We’re no longer focused only on financial metrics — environmental, governance, and sustainability issues, especially climate, are now central to what finance professionals do’.
In essence, the finance and accounting profession has moved to the forefront of value creation.
Internal and external mechanisms are required to uphold sustainability.
Externally, the United Nations has set targets with the sustainable development goals (SDGs), and the European Union has articulated reporting standards for which companies must comply. And Collins noted that, ‘increasingly, investors drive sustainability reforms. They’re not just supporting environmental goals; they recognise that climate and ESG risks have real implications for investment returns’.
Internal mechanisms include the board of directors and can include committees or functions regarding corporate social responsibility (CSR), or diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) that focus on corporate governance.
‘Board structures and committee composition matter enormously for sustainability. Who sits on ESG or audit committees — their expertise, diversity, and independence — directly shapes how seriously organisations take these issues’, Collins said.
Further, business leaders can bolster their efforts with corporate governance by implementing executive incentives, remuneration, and long-term metrics to guide managerial behaviours. And, of course, the audit function cannot simply be a tick-box exercise.
When executives and non-executives understand and can meet the sustainability initiatives, teams can align and uphold corporate governance.
Prioritising long-term sustainability is a challenge, but one that can be met by ‘aligning executive incentives and performance metrics with long-term sustainability goals, not just financial goals’, Joan stated.
Organisations can shift from a compliance-driven to values-driven workplace.
Embedding sustainability into core business operations and decision-making, rather than having sustainability as an add-on, builds a workplace culture of critical consciousness around sustainability.
The finance function is not simply a technical function; the finance role has profound influence on economic, social, and governance.
Joan advised, ‘We need to create a better culture of ethical reflexivity, where we get accountants to question assumptions and what their impacts really are, and how that plays out in the reporting sphere’.
Developing critical consciousness around sustainability begins with education. Joan recommends that students review real-world case studies and corporate sustainability reports to analyse failures and greenwashing. Further, she recommends that educators teach in a way that promotes critical thinking, rather than focusing on one right answer.
‘To foster real sustainability thinking, we need students to question assumptions, debate ethical dilemmas, and engage with real‑world cases, including greenwashing and sustainability failures’, Joan said.
Accounting educators need to ‘think about the curriculum itself — the content of the curriculum and how we frame it’ with a focus on ‘embedding sustainability across core modules’, Joan advised.
Accountants need to question underlying assumptions.
Professional skepticism is crucial for our profession and we ‘need to encourage more professional skepticism towards greenwashing, and superficial ESG claims,’ Joan stated.
‘We need cultures where accountants feel able to challenge, reflect, and scrutinise sustainability information rather than treating it as a reporting add‑on,’ she expanded.
Collins agrees in the importance embedding ESG into audit, risk, and remuneration and connecting sustainability to the core decisions that businesses make. And the time is now: ‘Advances in AI mean many repetitive tasks traditionally done by finance managers and auditors are now automated. That shift frees professionals to focus on strategic, value‑adding decision‑making,’ Collins said.
Enjoy the full Reshaping Finance podcast episode, ‘Sustainability Starts Inside: Culture, Governance and the Future of the Profession’ and you’re invited to explore more information on ESG and the future of finance.
Additional resources:
Climate & Sustainability/ESG resources (landing page)
2025 Future of Finance Summit White Paper (report)
The changing role and mandate of finance (download)
Reshaping Finance Podcast (episode library)