SMEs can be sustainable

ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) says that it is not just large businesses who can be sustainable and responsible.

According to the Carbon Trust, in the UK, Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) generate a quarter of carbon dioxide emissions a year. So they have a part to play in sustainable development (SD) and Corporate and Social Responsibility (CSR).

ACCA offers a series of various activities SMEs can incorporate into everyday business processes to ensure that sustainability is integrated into all levels of the organisation. These can include:

·Implementing energy efficiency measures – reducing electricity use, using more efficient office equipment

·Reducing paper use – having a default of double sided printing and reducing printing in the first place

·Employee satisfaction – engaging regularly with employees to ensure satisfaction levels are high and making changes to conduct where needed

·Education of employees on sustainability issues to ensure that everyone is committed to driving improvements and change.

In its recent policy document called Going Concern? ACCA says that SMEs account for the majority of economic activity. For example, in the EU, there are approximately 23 million SMEs, constituting 99% of all enterprises. The sector generates two-thirds of all private-sector jobs, some 75 million and more than half (52%) of private-sector turnover is generated by SMEs.

From its Going Concern? report ACCA makes a number of recommendations, such as:

*Governments should review the incentives provided by SME corporate taxation systems to increase the propensity of the SME sector to invest in cleaner technology
*SMEs should become more proactive in the unfolding CSR debate and increase their profile and contribution within the growing number of initiatives, guidelines and standards being developed
*Governments should produce guidance to help SMEs measure their key environmental and social impacts
*Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) should develop a more accessible version of its current sustainability reporting guidelines for smaller organisations.

Going Concern? is available from ACCA’s website at www.acca.co.uk