Africa’s development is reliant upon the involvement of accounting and finance professionals. Working in both private and public sectors, they play a crucial role in driving sustainable growth across the continent. Whether serving on corporate boards, as CFOs, or as business advisors, they can help tackle challenges, such as climate change impacts, energy accessibility issues, regional disparities and disconnection, economic growth, and public debt.

With the deadline for the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) looming, the world is under increased pressure to accelerate efforts and deploy innovative solutions to meet the SDGs. Islamic finance is one of the critical solutions to mobilize funding towards achieving the SDGs.

This report is a tool for learning and presents best practices for supporting the accountancy profession’s development in emerging economies. It highlights what some countries have overcome in times of disruption and conflict to put the interest of the public first and establish a sound accountancy profession. As many parts of the world face fragile identifiers, pandemics, violence, and more, the profession is stepping up to tackle these challenges.

Through an integrated internal control environment based on an integrated mindset, companies will achieve greater connectivity of functions, processes and systems leading to enhanced data quality to improve decision making on strategy, risk, opportunity management and governance-related matters. This is the foundation for transitioning to a more sustainable business model and enhancing investor and stakeholder confidence in sustainability performance.

This executive summary provides an outline of ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants), IDI (INTOSAI Development Initiative) and IFAC’s forthcoming introduction to sustainability reporting and assurance, intended for the public sector globally.

The report draws on two global roundtables, held in August and September 2023, with professionals involved in both reporting and audit in the public sector.

The executive summary launched at a session at the UN World Investment Forum 2023 in Abu Dhabi in October 2023. 

The State of Play Beyond the G20 expands IFAC's sustainability disclosure and assurance data to 20 additional jurisdictions beyond the G20 previously reported on. The State of Play Beyond the G20 focuses on the Global South with data from three jurisdictions from Latin America, six in Africa and Middle East, and four in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as six smaller-sized economies within the European Economic Area and Switzerland.

Given the scale and complexity of public finances, competing demands on public resources, and the need for transparency and accountability for the management of public funds, the demand for finance and accounting professionals is high.