The B20 2024 Integrity and Compliance task force has set out three key measures for the accountancy profession as we head into 2025. The annual meeting of business representatives and G20 governments, which took place yesterday in São Paulo, Brazil, sets the tone for future regulation and government action. 

ICAEW is a network partner to the task force, whose members span global businesses that bring together the compliance, accountancy and legal professions. This year, the task force discussed sustainability reporting, ethics in AI and anti-corruption measures. 

The task force policy paper outlines three critical areas for the profession:

1. Good governance for sustainability

With the inclusion of a chapter on sustainable governance in the 2023 OECD/G20 Corporate Governance Principles, the task force discussed the need for an increased focus on the governance of sustainability programmes. The policy paper emphasises a role for both external and internal audit in this assessment and calls for an extension in internal audit scope to cover internal controls over sustainability reporting.

2. Technical assistance and guidance for SMEs

The call for targeted technical assistance and guidance for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) at this year’s B20 should be getting more attention. The task force recommended funding advisory services to help SMEs navigate the complexities of sustainability reporting. 

Brazil has a comprehensive mentoring and support programme for SMEs in the form of Sebrae, which is fully funded by the government. Such a body could be well placed to provide hands-on advice and mentoring to make sustainability reporting easier to achieve for SMEs.

While a similar support network may seem a distant prospect for SMEs in the UK, G20 dialogue around this might open the door to further discussion. For example, such a network could be a valuable component of the UK government’s new Industrial Strategy, which is currently being consulted on. In any case, SMEs and their advisers could be thinking about how to shape an extended support network and the extent to which existing networks or commercial providers could initiate such networks.

3. Emphasis on mindset and ethical leadership

Compliance with regulation alone would be insufficient for high-quality sustainability reporting, according to the task force. At a time when regulation is building in many countries, it was a timely reminder that new regulations needed to come with the professionalisation of sustainability reporting. 

While this could be achieved in part through regulation – to require sustainability assurance providers to apply a code of ethics, for example – this alone was insufficient. Now the profession has the mandate to provide sustainability reporting, there is an onus to demonstrate the value it brings. 

There was significant discussion in the task force about taking the initiative for ‘ethical leadership’. That was explained as being more intentional in what we do, listening more and defining our own values for who we want to be. 

This approach could be taken by individual professionals and managers, or across a profession. It was agreed that regulation cannot be the complete answer; governments need to trust professionals to deliver.

Practical online platforms

A major focus in the task force recommendations was the provision of practical resources for SMEs, which comprise 62% of the economy in Brazil. Among the resources highlighted was a new business integrity toolkit published by the World Economic Forum in September and freely available online. The toolkit is intended to contribute to the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal 16, which promotes the development of effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at every level.

The B20 Summit will conclude in a communique to the G20 meeting in November. It remains to be seen which of the itss recommendations are carried forward into inter-governmental commitments. Behind this formal cooperation, the relationships and partnerships built during the summit provide new opportunities for sharing information and best practice, which ICAEW is participating in. The G20 will move to South Africa next year.