CPA Journal: The State of the Profession

James Nevels '74 et al.

The CPA Journal assembled a virtual roundtable to discuss their predictions, trends, and lessons for their profession in 2022. Here is an excerpt from James Nevels, CEO of the Swarthmore Group:

ESG. The press for ESG will intensify, not wane, in 2022. However, the relationship between those three elements will continue to be seen as separate, when in fact they are interrelated. Furthermore, how these elements are measured by a coherent methodology will remain frustratingly absent. A suggested methodological approach to ESG is to see the three components as conjoined elements contributing to the well-being of the corporate body politic and its stakeholders. The environmental and social components cannot be effectuated without the governance component. Furthermore, corporate governance must acknowledge the relationship between it and environmental and social responsibility and bear accountability for accepting their importance and value as intangible assets. In addition, the measurement of the efficacy of the organization’s efforts to achieve these goals falls squarely on governance. One can only hope that governance will run to the challenge, not from it.

DEI. Like ESG, DEI is good business and good for business. Diversity is definable based on thinking, upbringing, race, and gender among a host of other factors. It can bring views to the organization that “seasons” the outlook of the corporate entity.

Inclusion is measurable and traditionally discussed in the context of representation throughout corporate structure and thought.

Equity is elusive in definition and melds into a less defined construct. I mention it last because this “E” becomes subsumed in “D” (diversity) and “I” (inclusion).

Let me respectfully suggest that equity is difficult to define and measure as it can only be viewed over an extended period of years and decades. Equity is both tangible and intangible, measurable and impossible to measure. It is the ability to own a house no matter where one was born on the economic ladder and to expect—no, demand—fair treatment under the law.