The Accounting Paradox

When you think about the tools at our disposal to address the ecological, social and biodiversity challenges we face today, accounting might not immediately come to mind. And yet it is accounting standards, not science and not public policy, that set out how profit is calculated, which in turn drives investment decisions. What if we demanded that those standards reflect the true cost of business and its consequences?

Unless we look again at these fundamental principles, which have gone under the radar for so long, capital markets will continue to contribute to inequality, nature loss and climate change. What’s remarkable is that we already have in place everything we need for a more just and complete approach to accounting, and forward-thinking businesses are beginning to recognize that.

Jeremy Nicholls – accountant, sustainability professional, historian and activist – sets out a vision for new way of accounting, and it’s one that we can adopt immediately.

Author Biography

Jeremy Nicholls has spent his career addressing inequality, arguing that one of the fundamental causes is how the accounting system calculates profit.

He became an accountant to support the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, training with PwC. He spent four years as a house parent before starting a regeneration consultancy in Liverpool and then co-founding and becoming CEO of Social Value International (SVI), a global community of social accountants with a mission to change the way the world accounts for value. He left to spend time as the assurance framework lead for the UNDP’s SDG Impact Standards, designed to support organizations seeking to maximise their contribution to sustainability before returning as an advisor.

He is an Ashoka fellow, a honorary research fellow at the University of Liverpool, a member of Accounting for Sustainability’s expert panel and ICAEWs non financial assurance committee and an ambassador for the Capitals Coalition.

He has researched and written widely in the field of impact accounting, including regular contributions to Pioneers Post.