As our community looks at resetting our lives, businesses and economies, there is no better time to reflect on how we live and work. The events of 2020 turned the world upside down and made us reconsider what it means to be a good citizen.

While, as chartered accountants, we were saving livelihoods, we also found new meaning to the phrases ‘citizenship’ and ‘purpose beyond profit’.

CAs and purpose beyond profit

Businesses have had to elevate health and safety above all other considerations to protect customers and employees, and have turned to their accountants to provide a financial roadmap for ever-evolving situations. They turned to us, chartered accountants, to assist in doing what is right.

In an environment of declining trust in our leaders, institutions and information sources, there are increased community expectations to consider long-term impacts of actions and decisions.

“There are increased community expectations to consider long-term impacts of actions and decisions.”

CAs are ideally positioned to meet those expectations. CAs are trusted experts who are committed to a code of ethics. We are in a position to create a better future for our organisations, communities and the planet.

We also care about doing the right thing and driving the best outcomes for all. As good citizens we have the courage to challenge the status quo and the conscience to ask not only what can we do but what should we do?

This is because both globally and within our membership, there is more awareness of non-financial risks that affect the community and our planet; as chartered accountants, we understand the human cost of financial decisions, large and small. We know that every decision has an impact on a client’s ecosystem – their customers, employees, supply chains and physical environments.

Tools to make the right decision

To support you in this, you’ll find tools and resources on the CA ANZ website to help you communicate, advocate, embrace and celebrate our role as good citizens.

So I encourage you to keep taking a broader lens to your own decision-making and that of those around you.

Please take a page from CA ANZ’s recent paper, Give it a Nudge: Behavioural insights into an ethical workplace, and ‘give it a nudge’ to people who may want to behave unethically. Assist in certain choices that can help close the gap between what people plan to do and what they actually do. It all makes a difference.

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