An Interview with SASB Chair Jeffrey Hales

Sustainability is an increasingly important topic for the accounting profession. Recently, the editors interviewed Jeffrey Hales, the Catherine W. and Edwin A. Wahlen, Jr., Professor of Accounting at Georgia Tech and the current chair of the Sustainably Accounting Standards Board [SASB]. Jeff discusses the process by which SASB sets its industry-specific standards, how it decides to prioritize its efforts, and the current state of the adoption of its standards. He also stresses SASB's investor perspective and the resultant focus on materiality in its reporting requirements. Jeff concludes with some thoughts about educating new professionals about sustainability and some ideas about what the future may hold. A condensed version of this interview was recently featured in an episode of our Voices of the Profession online video series (https://www.cpajournal.com/2018/10/10/voices-of-the-profession-an-interview-with-jeffrey-hales/).