Clive Booth Founder the ESG Foundation

Uzbekistan is pushing ahead with a sweeping overhaul of financial reporting across its state-owned enterprises (SOEs), as part of a wider campaign to improve transparency, attract investment, and modernize corporate governance. Under reforms mandated by Presidential Decree No. 4611, a growing number of major enterprises are now required to produce financial statements in line with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). The first wave of compliance, launched in 2021, is beginning to bear fruit, with government officials hailing early successes and promising full adoption across all largest SOEs by the end of 2025. A recent seminar in Tashkent brought together finance leaders…

Long before ESG became a framework for corporate responsibility – before ratings agencies, sustainability reports or shareholder resolutions – a small group of British religious dissenters were practising something strikingly similar. The Quakers, or the Religious Society of Friends, built commercial empires from the 18th century onwards that placed values at the heart of enterprise. Their principles – integrity, fairness, stewardship and accountability – would not be out of place in any modern ESG policy. But theirs was not a response to regulatory pressure. It was a matter of conscience.

The European Commission has adopted the Omnibus I simplification package which proposed to limit mandatory sustainability reporting under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) to large companies with more than 1,000 employees. The voluntary standard for SMEs (VSME) was developed by EFRAG, the Commission's technical advisory body for sustainability reporting.

Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) factors are becoming a central consideration in how companies are valued, audited, and invested in - especially within long-term institutional portfolios like pension funds. Yet, while some companies are expanding their ESG commitments, others are scaling back, influenced by shifting political, economic, and regulatory landscapes. For aspiring accountants and those studying for qualifications like ACA, ACCA, or CIMA, understanding how ESG developments impact financial reporting, investment analysis, and regulatory obligations is increasingly critical - not only for exam success but also for shaping future career trajectories.

When I went to university in the 1980s, only around 5% of us leaving school in the UK found places. Today as many as half of all 18 year olds leaving school this year will go to one of our 147 institutions. Surely that’s great, isn’t? Well, not really. In this morning’s ‘Deloitte Monday Briefing’ they’ve taken a look at UK graduates’ prospects: “We start with three facts about UK higher education. UK graduates earn far more than non-graduates over their lifetime, are more likely to be in work and are far more likely to work later in life.”