Format
This course will be delivered via Zoom on Thursday 18 April 2024 from 8.30 am
to 1.30 pm. The Zoom link will be emailed to participants the day before the
course is due to take place.
This online
interactive live sessions will utilise the functionality of our online learning
platform and will be an engaging, collaborative manner of learning. This session
will not be recorded, and therefore attendance is required.Who should attend
Accountants (and other finance professionals) in practice and industry,
across business and financial services and whether in the public or private
sector, who want an updated summary of the current corporate sustainability
reporting landscape. Note: This is a repeat of the sold-out ESG Masterclass that
took place in October 2023.
Course overview
The masterclass is designed to provide a high-level overview and will bring
together a diverse range of speakers to provide key updates and insights on the
global, European, and national sustainability requirements and principles most
impacting the role of professional accountants. This will include:
- The definition of sustainability and ESG, and applying
them in different organisational contexts
- The intersection of finance (including funding
opportunities), regulation, governance, reporting and assurance – Insights on
how these are impacted by the evolving sustainability requirements from
various stakeholders, including regulators and society.
- The regulatory landscape – an overview of the key
regulations, the impact on all types of organisations and the core
requirements.
- Principles and Frameworks – An overview and
explanation of common sustainability principles and frameworks, including the
United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and applying them in an
organisational context.
- The Sustainability Reporting landscape – An overview of the current
sustainability reporting landscape, examples of reporting and the latest
developments in context of International Sustainability Standards Board and
European Sustainability Reporting Standards, the Impact of Corporate
Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and other legal developments for
accountants.
The Sustainability Assurance Landscape – An overview of the current
sustainability assurance landscape, the evolving situation under CSRD and future
developments impacting assurance such as those proposed in the Corporate
Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CS3D).
Key Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, participants will be able to:
- Interpret the terminology and summarise key
sustainability requirements impacting organisations, e.g. CSRD.
- Explain the laws, regulations, standards, principles
and best practice driving the corporate sustainability compliance agenda.
- Prioritise sustainability requirements and plan next
steps from a governance (including risk management and compliance), reporting,
and assurance perspective.
- Describe examples of sustainability compliance initiatives and approaches
taken by various organisations.
Describe recent developments in sustainability governance, reporting and
assurance impacting organisations of all sizes and develop an action plan to
address.
Speaker Bio
Níall Fitzgerald, FCA. Head of Ethics and Governance, Chartered Accountants Ireland - Níall brings together technical expertise, experience and insights from his role with the Institute and his roles as a non-executive director for an Irish Charity and chair of its governance and risk committee, Trustee for an occupational pension scheme, co-founder of Chapter Zero Ireland, advisory member on several global professional accountancy committees/task forces, and Institute of Banking faculty member with focus on financial service governance, risk, sustainability, culture and ethics.
Eva Sheehy - Eva is a Director
in the ESG Reporting & Assurance team in KPMG Ireland. She has worked with a
wide variety of public and private clients including those in the Retail, Food & Agri and Transport and Construction industries. Eva joined KPMG in 2013 and has extensive experience working on audit and assurance engagements. Eva assists clients completing ESG reporting readiness assessments and advises clients on current and future ESG reporting standards relevant to their business and sector.
Jeremy Twomey, FCA - Jeremy in his role as Practice Consulting Manager works to support our member practitioners across our service areas, with a particular focus on compliance support, training and our associated advisory services. Jeremy is a Fellow of the Institute, having trained with Ernst & Young; he has held senior management positions across both financial and professional services, as well as the public sector.
Susan Rossney - Susan is
Sustainability Officer for Chartered Accountants Ireland, leading on
sustainability advocacy and communications within the Advocacy and Voice team. A
co-chair of the Institute's Expert Working Group on Sustainability and Chair of
the Sustainability Taskforce of Chartered Accountants Worldwide, she is author
of Sustainability for Accountants and Climate Essentials for Accountants and
co-author of Sustainability for Small Businesses, and writes the weekly
Sustainability/ESG Newsletter for Chartered Accountants Ireland. Co-founder of
the Green Pearse Street group, Susan works on various sustainability operational
initiatives for Chartered Accountants Ireland, sits on the Net Zero Taskforce of
the Global Accounting Alliance, and is a regular speaker at sustainability
events on behalf of Chartered Accountants Ireland.
If you have any questions regarding this or any other CPD course or requirements, please feel free to contact the team here or call us at
(+353) 01 523 3930
This course is also available for in-house training. If you're interested, please contact our team
here or call us at (+353) 01 523 3989