Accountancy Europe Board Member Shauna Greely tells us about the organisation and its work and priorities for the year ahead 

Accountancy Europe is a representative body based in Brussels at the heart of the European Union and I am a Vice President and Board Member. Our focus is to give a unified voice to the accountancy profession in Europe, including Chartered Accountants across the island of Ireland, and to ensure that your perspectives, priorities and insights are heard by the policy makers, regulators and standard-setting bodies operating at a European level.

For me, this is particularly important because Ireland is a proud member of the EU and I am proud to be able to represent members of Chartered Accountants Ireland in Europe.

Accountancy Europe is heavily engaged with accounting standard setters, such as the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group, the International Accounting Standards Board and other key stakeholders involved in the interests of the accountancy profession.

Accountancy Europe helps inform European policy debate in areas such as sustainability, SMEs, tax, reporting and audit – and promotes high-quality financial reporting, auditing and ethical standards. 

One of our biggest priorities right now is combatting climate change and the crucial role sustainability reporting has to play in reducing carbon emissions and ensuring that companies are operating as sustainably as they can.

I am concerned about climate change and the impacts this is starting to have on all our lives. I hope that Accountancy Europe and the profession as a whole can play its part in raising awareness about climate change impacts and sustainability, so that we can bring about positive change. It is vital that we get this right and that the right level of reporting is introduced for organisations, both large and small, across the EU. 

Sustainability reporting brings to mind the saying, “What gets measured gets done”. It has such an enormously important role to play in combatting climate change and puts the accountancy profession front and centre in these efforts.

This is all the more important because the younger generation of professionals coming into the workplace have a social conscience. They want to do good in their lives and in their work, and they want to be part of professions and organisations that are doing good and can attest to it.

The accountancy profession is at the coalface of climate reporting and Accountancy Europe ensures that this pivotal role is represented as one voice to the European Parliament, the European Commission and the policy makers in Brussels who are shaping the future of the EU.

Shauna Greely is a Senior Finance Business Partner with Ulster Bank and past President of Chartered Accountants Ireland