Accountants' role in "sustainable" future promoted

Date: 20th July 2009

Small business accountants have a crucial role to play in promoting a new "sustainable" financial system, a new policy statement has argued.

In a wide-ranging report, the European Federation of Accountants (FEE) said that "excessive short-termism" had blighted financial firms - and had a big hand in causing the onset of the credit crunch.

The UK has been hit hard by the financial crisis and is now facing its worst recession in decades.

Data from Ernst & Young's Item Club released late last week suggested that the economy could shrink by 4.5 per cent this year, while even the government's more optimistic prediction forecasts a 3.5 per cent drop.

The FEE report said that accountants would be needed to help build a new "sustainable" system in the recovery, as they provided businesses with "relevant and accurate information" about their firms, as well as "the processes which underpin them".

It added: "Accountants have a role to play in the future of business, including small businesses as appropriate to ensure that organisations move forward into a more sustainable future.

"Recovery from the financial crisis must not mean a return to the same, unsustainable business practices."