Accountability of Sustainability: Putting Price On The Priceless

Bruce Gahir is an expert in financial systems management and work in international institutions such as HSBC. Bruce’s research interests are in the areas of Virtue Ethics, Finance, and Business Strategy. Currently his research focuses on Business Ethics with a special interest in decision-making models using the framework of Virtue Ethics. He is a member of the ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) Global Ethics Council. Description: The complexities of interactions between organizational life, civil society, markets, inequality and environmental degradation are widely recognized. This talk, followed by a discussion aims to show business,  international business and management as well as anyone interested how through the lens of responsible accounting, accountability, responsibility and sustainability, organizations can achieve the goal of becoming sustainable in a profitable manner. Could putting price on the priceless lead to the cheapest products being also the ones that do least damage to the planet? Many developments have taken place so far in areas of social accounting and related fields. Organizations have realized that "value" is no longer attached to just the bottom line figure on the financial statements and that economics and wealth are not the sole determinants of happiness or well- being. We have seen startling advances in the efficiencies with which manufacturing and services employ environmental resources. Waste reduction is no longer thought of as a contentious goal and global initiatives for matters as diverse as corporate responsibility reporting, integrated reporting and sustainability are becoming common amongst organizations. Our expert guest speaker will introduce this topic and some of the initiatives currently undertaken and hope to invite any students with interest in the global issues (be it business or not) to consider accountability of sustainability as a crucial question for today and the future. A discussion across attending IFSA Flagship hubs will follow.