FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Colleen Lutolf
917-327- 4013
clutolf@nysscpa.org
NEW YORK – (August 12, 2016) – New York State Society of CPAs (NYSSCPA) Executive Director and CEO Joanne S. Barry, CAE, was honored with City and State’s 2016 Corporate Social Responsibility Award for her Sustainability.
“It’s an honor to be recognized for the consenus-building work the NYSSCPA has done this year in the effort to establish an integrated accounting framework in the United States as we strive for global financial stability and sustainable development.”
The CSR Awards in Sustainability recognizes outstanding corporate citizens for their work in sustainability - from the construction, energy, transportation and food industries and beyond. Barry, along with other honorees was recognized during City and State’s CSR Awards in Sustainability breakfast at NYU’s Eisner & Lubin Auditorium in New York. The event featured keynote remarks by Daniel A. Zarrilli, Senior Director, Climate Policy and Programs and Chief Resilience Officer, New York City Office of the Mayor.
“Getting the CPAs on board with this initiative is critical to any sustainability effort anywhere in the world,” Barry said. “CPAs measure impact. They allocate resources. They prepare the financial statement; they audit it. The sustainability effort needs CPAs to get to the next phase of implementation. And right now, in the accounting community, there is a real need to educate the rank and file members of the profession and to gain consensus on how to measure what before has only been conceptual—how do you measure and value a corporate brand? How do you measure economic impact—it’s an entire movement of getting these assets on the balance sheet so that corporate managers and investors can assess the true value of a company—and for investors, to understand if a company’s values reflects their values. It’s an exciting time and I’m grateful for the opportunity to help move the needle on this issue.”
In May, the NYSSCPA held the first sustainability accounting conference of its kind in the United States, featuring the world’s foremost thought-leaders on integrated reporting and sustainability accounting standards. The NYSSCPA also established a Sustainability Committee in January which acts as a forum for its members to address the evolving dialogue and financial reporting requirements that cut across all sectors of business. While the committee membership is limited to NYSSCPA members; the NYSSCPA just recently opened its membership to non-CPA financial professionals, including bankers, attorneys, actuaries and other financial professionals with which CPAs do business.
“The Sustainability Committee is a perfect example of why the members wanted to open up our organization to a broader population of non-CPAs. We can’t make progress on this issue in a bubble. We need diverse perspectives representing all stakeholder groups, so I encourage anyone who wants to help the NYSSCPA and the profession move forward on this issue to join us and join the committee,” Barry said.
Read more about the NYSSCPA’s Sustainability Committee, here.
About the NYSSCPA
Founded in 1897, the New York State Society of CPAs is the premiere professional membership association representing the interests of a membership of more than 26,000 licensed CPAs and other financial professionals practicing in New York State, and encompassing all areas of practice including in government, education, technology, nonprofit, real estate, healthcare and industry.
###