Tomorrow Today

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this forum, the accounting profession’s clients – business and indus-

try – expressed their need for accountancy graduates with skills

such as communication, teamwork and problem-solving, which they

argue are necessary for accountancy professionals to engage with the

changing modern economic environment. High levels of flexibility

and creativity are increasingly required from accountancy graduates

if they are to contribute to the contemporary workplace.

As an outcome of this project, ARIES has recommended that

sustainability principles become incorporated as part of a broader

strategy for improving such skills, while exposing students to

the challenges of, for example, evaluating assets and services in

a manner that takes account of resource usage, life-cycle analysis

and polluter-pays principles, and assesses the risks to business

associated with climate change. It has emerged that one way of

influencing such change in accounting education would be to

integrate sustainability into the accreditation requirements placed

by the professional accountancy associations upon accounting

undergraduate and postgraduate teaching programmes. ARIES

has also conducted a baseline survey to identify the range of

sustainability-related topics currently taught in Australian

accounting schools.

As a further outcome of this project, in collaboration with

the Business Higher Education Roundtable and the Macquarie

University School of Accounting, ARIES is presenting

an inaugural summit to explore the advancement of

accountancy towards the integration of sustainabil-

ity performance measurement. The first day of this

summit will address such issues as: drivers to include

sustainability throughout the industry; learnings from

the global market; and employability and multi-disci-

plinary skills in an increasingly sustainability-focused

industry. The second day will consist of master classes

in: teaching sustainability; sustainability auditing

and assurance; water accounting; and modelling the

financial risks attached to carbon and sustainabil-

ity. With contributions from the Global Reporting

Initiative, CPA Australia, the Institute of Chartered

Accountants Australia, international accounting firms

and Australian universities, this summit will facilitate

the accounting profession’s progress along the path of

sustainable development.

As many other professions would benefit from

a similar approach, ARIES is now developing its

Sustainability in the Key Professions Roundtable model

to drive the uptake of sustainability skills in other

professions such as engineering and law.

Reaching more students

To reach a wider range of students, ARIES is currently

developing a teaching unit on Energy Efficiency

and Renewable Energy as part of the Australian

Government’s Skills for the Carbon Challenge initia-

tive.

The ARIES unit is designed to be inserted at the

Diploma or Graduate Diploma level across university

education and vocational education and training, and

its modular construction will also allow teachers to

utilize its material within existing courses.

Education leading the way

Through awareness and knowledge, and by building

the capacity to innovate and implement solutions, ESD

helps to re-focus the way we live and work in the move

towards a more sustainable society.

“Through education and lifelong learning we can

achieve lifestyles based on economic and social justice,

food security, ecological integrity, sustainable live-

lihoods, respect for all life forms and strong values

that foster social cohesion, democracy and collective

action.”

The Bonn Declaration

With support from the Australian Government

Departments of Environment, Water, Heritage and the

Arts,

and Education, Employment and Workplace

Relations,

as well as NSW Government Departments

such as Environment, Climate Change and Water,

ARIES has been able to inform and encourage the

adoption of education for sustainability in Australia.

Our research not only informs government policy,

but has also provided international leadership to shift

policies and practices across the Australian business,

education and community sectors so that we might

meet the needs of the present without compromising

the needs of future generations.

Knowledge of nature and ecology is a key factor in ESD

Image: Jenny Tomkins and DEWHA