Richard Sloan is the Deloitte and Touche LLP Chair in Accounting at USC Leventhal and professor of accounting, finance and business economics at USC Marshall. An award-winning teacher and prolific scholar in the field of financial accounting, he is also a prominent voice on the role accountants might play in the growing arena of sustainability reporting. Sloan discusses the current state of sustainability reporting, its future and the role today’s students will play in this fast-evolving field.
Who is demanding sustainability reporting?
“The demand originally came from customers, employees and investors who wanted to make sure they were doing business with an entity that shared their values concerning the environment and society. More recently, there’s been growing demand from investors who view sustainability reporting as a tool to inform their valuation of companies, providing insights on both the impact the company is having on environment and society as well as the impact environment and society are having on the company.”