The IMA^® (Institute of Management Accountants) Europe region held two events on October 18 on the important, news-making topics of sustainability and ethics.

Sustainability

Integrated reporting is founded on integrated thinking: That was among the key messages delivered by Tjeerd Krumpelman, global head of advisory, reporting, and engagement for ABN AMRO, who spoke at an event on “The Future of Corporate Reporting.” 

During his talk, Krumpelman (pictured below) described the benefits of integrated reporting, citing BlackRock chair and CEO Larry Fink, “To prosper over time, every company must not only deliver financial performance, but also show how it makes a positive contribution to society. Companies must benefit all of their stakeholders.”

Krumpelman also explained ABN AMBRO’s integrated reporting journey, including the guiding principles that led the company to prepare and publish its first “Impact Report” in March 2019. He observed, “Integrated thinking and integrated reporting bring better decision-making and that ultimately leads to long-term value creation.” He concluded with sharing some of the challenges and next steps of the journey, including those related to governance and how to measure long-term value creation. 

Pictured below (from l. to r.): IMA CEO and President Jeff Thomson; Marta Sudnikiewicz, IMA Europe Operations Coordinator; Guest Speaker Tjeerd Krumpelman; Grete Buivydaite, IMA Europe Business Development Specialist; Alain Mulder, IMA Senior Director European Operations.

Ethics

That same day, IMA also hosted a gathering on the topic of ethics in conjunction with NBA (Koninklijke Nederlandse Beroepsorganisatie van Accountants - The Royal Netherlands Institute of Chartered Accountants). Both IMA and NBA members attended, and the keynote speaker was IMA President and CEO Jeff Thomson, CMA, CSCA, CAE, who discussed a hypothetical ethics case study on Midland Dairy.

The topic of the event was “Dealing with Ethical Dilemmas with Confidence” and it was held in Amsterdam, attracting approximately 55 attendees.

Jeff Thomson discusses ethics.