Green skills add up
by Heather Leggett
Accounting
students should think seriously about gaining some 'green' skills
before graduation day, according to a recent study by a UniSA
researcher.
Conducted by Joanne Tingey-Holyoak from UniSA's Centre for
Accounting Governance and Sustainability (CAGS), the study has
revealed that many local accountants expect their new recruits to
have attained accounting related sustainability skills at
university.
Tingey-Holyoak surveyed 121 South Australian accountants as
part of an honours project, supervised by founding director of CAGS
Professor Roger Burritt, to determine the extent to which
accountants are responding to pressure to engage with the
environmental agenda.
She says that the research results indicated a link between
the perceived personal importance of environmental issues and the
perceived necessity of sustainability skills in new recruits.
"Accounting firm manager's perceptions of the importance of
sustainability graduates were predicted by their perceptions of the
importance of sustainability issues to society, their clients and
accountancy professional bodies," she says.
"The results of the study are very positive, especially
when considered alongside the fact that the majority of participants
viewed the welfare of the environment as being personally important
to them."
Tingey-Holyoak says the results indicate that the future
for sustainability accounting in South Australia is encouraging.
"What also emerged from the study is confirmation that the
accounting profession has acknowledged the critical link between
business and sustainability," she says.
According to Tingey-Holyoak, the findings also indicate
that the demand for sustainability education for future accountants
is expected to intensify over time.
"Specific skills, such as sustainability assurance and
emissions accounting, are expected to increase considerably over the
next three years," she says.