Six Capitals Or Can Accountants Save The Planet

A timely and fascinating account of the revolution going on in the world of finance from the acclaimed author of Double Entry. This is the story of a twenty-first-century revolution being led by the most unlikely of rebels: accountants. Only the second revolution in accounting since double-entry bookkeeping began, it is of seismic proportions, driven by the 2008 financial crash and our ongoing environmental crisis. The changes it will wreak are profound and far-reaching and not only will transform the way the world does business but also will alter the nature of capitalism. While the wealth of nations and corporations has been vital to the global economy, increasingly the world is coming to realize that such endless growth is limited by the earth's resources and comes at a huge price to the planet and to human well-being. It simply cannot be sustained. This revolution demands that we go beyond merely accounting for traditional financial and industrial capital and take account of the benefits and detriments to the natural world and society. It urges us to include four new categories of wealth: intellectual (such as intellectual property), human (skills, productivity, and health), social and relationship (shared norms and values), and natural (environment). Making them part of our financial statements and GDP figures may be the only way to address the many calamities we face. Just two years ago this revolution seemed idealistic and unlikely. Today it is quickly unfolding. In 2012, the sea-change year, two key initiatives took root: an international movement to transform how corporate accounting is calculated and the rise of incorporating the effects on the environment to the accounting of national and global economies. Six Capitals tells the story of this coming new age in capitalism, evaluating its promise and the disaster that lies ahead if it is not implemented.

Climate change is here and capitalism is implicated: it's programmed to privilege profit and growth over human communities and the living earth. We need to change this system - and we need to do it now. Six Capitals charts the rise of four movements designed to overthrow capitalism as we know it: multi-capital accounting, for society, nature and profit; the push for a new corporation legally bound to benefit nature and society while making a profit; ecosystem accounting for nations; and legal rights for nature, which resonate with indigenous earth-centred laws. These movements are critical for the future of human life on this planet. Together they override the profit-driven modern corporation, the growth-driven nation state and the legal status of the natural world as lifeless property. Multi-capital and ecosystem accounting, benefit corporations and the rights of nature movement are here to stay. Six Capitals tells their story, from their first emergence in the post-war era to today. This revised, updated edition is for the new generations of business leaders, entrepreneurs, activists, accountants, economists, scientists, farmers, food growers and distributors, teachers, parents, politicians, bureaucrats and concerned citizens everywhere.

A timely and fascinating account of the revolution going on in the world of finance from the acclaimed author of Double Entry. This is the story of a twenty-first-century revolution being led by the most unlikely of rebels: accountants. Only the second revolution in accounting since double-entry bookkeeping began, it is of seismic proportions, driven by the 2008 financial crash and our ongoing environmental crisis. The changes it will wreak are profound and far-reaching and not only will transform the way the world does business but also will alter the nature of capitalism. While the wealth of nations and corporations has been vital to the global economy, increasingly the world is coming to realize that such endless growth is limited by the earth's resources and comes at a huge price to the planet and to human well-being. It simply cannot be sustained. This revolution demands that we go beyond merely accounting for traditional financial and industrial capital and take account of the benefits and detriments to the natural world and society. It urges us to include four new categories of wealth: intellectual (such as intellectual property), human (skills, productivity, and health), social and relationship (shared norms and values), and natural (environment). Making them part of our financial statements and GDP figures may be the only way to address the many calamities we face. Just two years ago this revolution seemed idealistic and unlikely. Today it is quickly unfolding. In 2012, the sea-change year, two key initiatives took root: an international movement to transform how corporate accounting is calculated and the rise of incorporating the effects on the environment to the accounting of national and global economies. Six Capitals tells the story of this coming new age in capitalism, evaluating its promise and the disaster that lies ahead if it is not implemented.

This is the story of a 21st century revolution being led by the most unlikely of rebels: accountants. It is only the second revolution in accounting since double-entry bookkeeping emerged in medieval Italy - and it is of seismic proportions, driven by the 2008 financial crash and the environmental crisis. The changes it will wreak are profound and far-reaching. They will transform not only the way the world does business but alter the very nature of corporate capitalism. The accounts of nations and corporations are vital to the 21st century global economy. They translate value into the language of modern times - numbers and money - in the shape of GDP and profit figures. They rule the world. But increasingly the world is coming to realise that the seemingly endless growth that capital offers us is in fact limited by the earth's resources and comes at a huge price to the planet and our own wellbeing. It simply cannot be sustained. This revolution demands that we start accounting for nature and society. It urges us to rethink our idea of capital, insisting that the familiar categories of industrial and financial capital bequeathed by the mercantile and industrial ages be broadened to include four new categories of wealth: intellectual, human, social and natural. Incorporating them into our financial statements and GDP figures could be the only way to address the many crises we face today. Just two years ago this revolution seemed idealistic and unlikely. Today it is unfolding at speed. 2012 was the sea-change year, in which two key initiatives took root: an international movement to transform corporate accounting, and the rise of natural capital accounting for nations and the global economy. Six Capitals tells the story of their rise to prominence, which signals a new age in capitalism, and evaluates their promise - and their threat. The revolution is here. But will we embrace its potential or deny its urgency? Can accountants save the planet - or will we destroy it for future generations?

FULLY REVISED AND UPDATED 'A fascinating read. Gleeson-White artfully captivates the reader as she explores the fast-evolving language, metrics, actors and laws that are profoundly reshaping "capital" in the 21st century.' KATE RAWORTH, author of Doughnut Economics Climate change is here and capitalism is implicated: it's programmed to privilege profit and growth over human communities and the living earth. We need to change this system - and we need to do it now. Six Capitals charts the rise of four movements designed to overthrow capitalism as we know it: multi-capital accounting, for society, nature and profit; the push for a new corporation legally bound to benefit nature and society while making a profit; ecosystem accounting for nations; and legal rights for nature, which resonate with indigenous earth-centred laws.These movements are critical for the future of human life on this planet. Together they override the profit-driven modern corporation, the growth-driven nation state and the legal status of the natural world as lifeless property. Multi-capital and ecosystem accounting, benefit corporations and the rights of nature movement are here to stay. Six Capitals tells their story, from their first emergence in the postwar era to today. This revised, updated edition is for the new generations of business leaders, entrepreneurs, activists, accountants, economists, scientists, farmers, food growers and distributors, teachers, parents, politicians, bureaucrats and concerned citizens everywhere. 'broaden financial reports to include measures of social and environmental issues and just watch how it changes the behaviour of business people. Gleeson-White makes a good case for the success of her unlikely revolutionaries.' ROSS GITTINS, Sydney Morning Herald 'Six Capitals reveals the critical role of accounting in reimagining the way we do business and make policy in the twenty-first century. It's time for everyone to pay attention.' CARL OBST, lead author, United Nations System of Environmental-Economic Accounting

For decades now, organizations have been struggling to find the best way to address their social and environmental responsibilities alongside their economic obligations. In other words, they want to know how best to effectively manage their operations based on a triple bottom line (3BL)--one that reflects social, environmental, and economic performance. Recently, an international standard for integrated reporting has emerged that in principle emphasizes the importance of managing toward a triple bottom line. But it fails to provide specific guidance on how to do so. Organizations have been left to their own devices to respond. How should 3BL management actually be done? In this book, sustainability and performance experts Martin Thomas and Mark McElroy introduce the world's most advanced 3BL performance accounting methodology: The MultiCapital Scorecard. It is the first context-based integrated measurement, management, and reporting system. And, it can help corporations, public institutions, and other organizations answer the question they should be asking themselves for every aspect of their operations: "How much is enough for us to be sustainable?" The answers set internal performance standards against which operations and their impacts can be measured. Nothing less will do! The MultiCapital Scorecard describes this open-source methodology, which consists of a structured, quantitative measurement and reporting system that complies with international standards for 3BL integrated measurement and reporting. Moreover, the MultiCapital Scorecard is designed to help organizations assess their own 3BL performance in their own contexts with context-based metrics of their own choosing. An eminently practical management aid for integrated thinking, it can be tailored to any organization's needs. The authors also describe how and why businesses are gradually shifting from managing impacts on only one type of capital (economic) to managing impacts on multiple types. They also provide detailed examples of worked reports, showing how organizations might develop and quantify the interim and long-term goals to meet their obligations to their employees, community, shareholders, and the environment. The examples also show how an organization can use the Multicapital Scorecard methodology to assess their progress in meeting those goals, and convey that progress to their stakeholders.

“Lively history. . . . Show[s] double entry’s role in the creation of the accounting profession, and even of capitalism itself.”—The New Yorker Filled with colorful characters and history, Double Entry takes us from the ancient origins of accounting in Mesopotamia to the frontiers of modern finance. At the heart of the story is double-entry bookkeeping: the first system that allowed merchants to actually measure the worth of their businesses. Luca Pacioli—monk, mathematician, alchemist, and friend of Leonardo da Vinci—incorporated Arabic mathematics to formulate a system that could work across all trades and nations. As Jane Gleeson-White reveals, double-entry accounting was nothing short of revolutionary: it fueled the Renaissance, enabled capitalism to flourish, and created the global economy. John Maynard Keynes would use it to calculate GDP, the measure of a nation’s wealth. Yet double-entry accounting has had its failures. With the costs of sudden corporate collapses such as Enron and Lehman Brothers, and its disregard of environmental and human costs, the time may have come to re-create it for the future.

The planet is currently experiencing a mass extinction event, with human and business activity being the root cause of species loss and habitat destruction. Industries, companies, banks, investors, accountants and auditors have all played their role. This book explores how they can also provide a solution. The book presents plans, metrics, frameworks, mechanisms and financial innovations that can be, and are being, implemented through the financial markets in order to save and protect species, enhance biodiversity and, at the same time, preserve the financial markets and the business world. This biodiversity handbook addresses the intersection between species extinction and the global capitalist system. With contributions from leading non-governmental organisations such as the Capitals Coalition, Business for Nature, the Ecojustice Foundation, ShareAction and the Endangered Wildlife Trust, plus senior researchers in the field, as well as industry experts from Moody’s, EOS at Hermes Federated Investment Management, BlueBay Asset Management, ODDO BHF Asset Management and OSSIAM (to mention just a few), this book is at the forefront of addressing the crucially important topics of extinction accounting, finance and governance. Drawing on leading research, the book is written in an accessible style and is relevant to researchers and students in the fields of sustainability, governance, accounting, finance, corporate social responsibility and corporate governance. It is essential reading for investors, responsible investors, bankers, business leaders and policy makers in the field of sustainable financial markets. Given the interdisciplinary nature of this book, it is useful to conservationists, ecologists and others involved in species and biodiversity protection.