ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL & GOVERNANCE
ESG initiatives are an opportunity for organizations to have a direct impact on how they interact with the communities around them and how they deliver value to their stakeholders.
McKinsey & Company
Evidence is emerging that a better ESG score translates to about a 10% lower cost of capital.
PwC
of consumers said they will stop supporting companies that treat the environment, employees, or the community in which they operate poorly.
Accenture
of executives believe that the ultimate ownership of ESG lies within finance teams.
ESG refers to a set of environmental, social, and governance standards. These non-financial factors are becoming increasingly important for organizations and their stakeholders, including management, investors, consumers, and employees, as a means of evaluating the company.
Regulators are also increasingly focused on driving transparency and consistency into ESG initiatives with new disclosure and other requirements that will require data quality, governance, and technology.
Realign F&A Capacity
Finance and Accounting are critical to ESG initiatives, yet many teams are spending their time on monotonous, mundane tasks that leave little time for strategic work.
BlackLine delivers capacity back to organizations by eliminating manual, repetitive tasks so accounting teams can focus their time on what matters most.
Increase Investor Trust
ESG is increasingly tied to investor decision-making. Research shows that organizations with more negative ESG incidents underperform the broader market by 2.5% to 3.5%.
BlackLine enhances governance and controls with embedded leading practices and provides a central location for managing proper policies, procedures, and end-to-end accounting activities.
Enable Paperless, Agile F&A Processes
F&A technology contributes to better, more efficient processes while significantly reducing organizations’ carbon footprint. Expenses like paper, storage, and employee and auditor travel can be eliminated or significantly reduced.
BlackLine reduces costs and enables remote work, helping reduce negative environmental impacts caused by outdated accounting, financial close, and auditing processes.
– Financial Analyst
ESG measurement is a fast-moving target, with continuously evolving standards and frameworks. Businesses will be challenged to keep up as disclosure demands become more stringent in the future.
As business leaders focus on making strategic decisions around these areas, accounting teams are being increasingly relied upon to provide data and insights, and to serve as strategic advisors to the business.
When you think about departments to approach to discuss sustainability at your company or organization, the finance department may not be the first one that comes to mind.