The Department of Accountancy and Law of the HKBU School of Business held the 2019 Corporate Sustainability Forum recently, gathering academics and senior practitioners to exchange best practices on corporate sustainability and reporting in Hong Kong and worldwide.

Prof. Zabihollah Rezaee, the Thompson-Hill Chair of Excellence and Professor of Accountancy at the University of Memphis, shared his insights on business sustainability and reporting practices around the world in general and in Hong Kong in particular. Prof. Rezaee pointed out that Hong Kong business sustainability reporting practices lag behind other developed economies globally and suggested the necessity of promoting such practices in Hong Kong. 

Several speakers from business, professional organisations and regulatory bodies shared their business sustainability reporting practices. Dr. Gary Chan, the Chief Operation Officer of Giordano, showed how the company has established a sustainability culture and reports on the company’s sustainability activities. Ms. Melissa Fung, a partner of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, and Ms. Sammie Leung, a partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers, shared their views on how to implement and report business sustainability in a firm.

Against the backdrop of the debates on business sustainability reporting models, Ms. Eunice Chu, Head of Policy of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (Hong Kong), outlined an emerging reporting model that integrates business sustainability into traditional financial reports and discussed the merits of such a reporting model. Mr. Nelson Lam, the Vice President of the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants (HKICPA), brought a regulator’s view on business sustainability in Hong Kong, shedding light on the institutional background and the current reporting and assurance standards.