Accounting and law bodies team up to build sustainability capabilities in professional services firms

SINGAPORE’s key accountancy and legal professional bodies will join hands over the next three years to build a community of professional services firms that can provide sustainability services in Singapore and regionally.

Fewer than 50 such firms in Singapore can now deliver these services, said the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants (Isca) and the Law Society of Singapore (LawSoc) on Friday (Jan 5). The target is for thrice the number which can do so.

The two bodies said the strong push for companies to ensure that their operations are sustainable has raised the demand for services that go beyond sustainability reporting and advisory services. These include the capacity to grant businesses external limited assurance on the amount of greenhouse gases produced directly by these companies’ operations and power consumption.

The urgency with which professional services firms need to beef up their capacities in sustainability-related fields stems from the July 2023 recommendation by the Sustainability Reporting Advisory Committee (SRAC) – that listed businesses be required to obtain at least a baseline assurance for the emissions resulting from their operations and power consumption two years after climate reporting requirements become mandatory. This means listed issuers on Singapore Exchange Securities Trading will need to fall in line from FY2027.

The SRAC is an industry-led panel set up by Singapore’s business regulators – the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (Acra) and Singapore Exchange Regulation (SGX RegCo).

Singapore’s professional services firms will thus have to “level up” in this new field to capture growth opportunities, ISCA and LawSoc said.

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Their initiative, the Sustainability Apex Programme, is supported by Enterprise Singapore (EnterpriseSG) under the Local Enterprise and Association Development Programme for trade associations and chambers; it is also backed by Acra and the Professional Services Programme Office, a joint office between the Ministry of Law and the Singapore Economic Development Board.

A memorandum of understanding was signed at Isca House on Friday to seal the partnership.

LawSoc president Lisa Sam said the programme will enable members of both LawSoc and Isca to confidently navigate the complex ESG (environmental, social and corporate governance) landscape.

Geoffrey Yeo, the assistant chief executive officer for urban solutions, sustainability and enterprise finance at EnterpriseSG, said the programme provides a valuable platform for firms to share ideas and experiences. It could also pave the way for firms to explore opportunities to grow their practices and identify synergies for potential partnerships, he added.