Sustainability & ESG Services

At Ecovis DCA Chartered Accountants, we offer tailored Sustainability and ESG (Environmental, Social & Governance) services to support Irish businesses at every stage of their journey. From regulatory guidance to strategic implementation and reporting, our expert team helps clients integrate these principles into their operations with confidence and clarity.

Sustainability and ESG

Strong ethics have formed a core aspect of the Ecovis business model and philosophy since its inception. This firm-wide commitment and high-level value of ethical behaviour is central to our approach towards sustainability matters. We understand and hugely appreciate that sustainability has become a key area of focus for much of our client base and accordingly we have ensured that we have developed the necessary expertise and resources to assist all our clients, both current and prospective, regardless of what stage they are at within their sustainability journey. We commit to supporting client entities to embed Sustainability and ESG strategically and effectively, into their organisation, in a structured, timely, tailored and measurable manner.

We are committed to reinforcing the broadness of the topic of Sustainability and ESG and its potential to impact almost every element of a business organisation, in the very near future. We believe that by embracing Sustainability and ESG Matters, client organisations shall find themselves in an elevated, superior position, enabling the organisation to add value by improving resilience, delivering new business opportunities and encouraging innovation whilst concurrently positively improving the ecosystem and broader society.

We have noted a marked increase in the demand for Sustainability and ESG Services, particularly as stakeholders, including investors, increasingly require information regarding how an entity is incorporating Corporate Social Responsibility into its business operations, its interactions with stakeholders and into its reporting systems. There is a need for client organisations to ensure that their ESG systems are sufficiently robust and appropriately challenged to ensure credible, transparent reporting. The concept of ‘Double Materiality’ and the global shift towards Non-Financial Reporting is fostering an arena of trust and significantly enhancing stakeholder engagement. It is essential that clients develop their approach towards reporting Sustainability and ESG Matters. It must be further ensured that reporting is of the highest quality levels and is effective in conveying the information deemed material to their stakeholders.

Reporting

Despite the undoubtedly essential nature of Sustainability and ESG Matters, and the need to ensure that progress continues to be made in this area, it has been noted at national and international level that it can have a significant administrative burden for affected entities. For this reason, it has, in recent weeks, been proposed to amend the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive. The aim of the proposed Directives is to postpone reporting requirements for certain entities by two years.

The proposed Directives also seek to significantly reduce the scope of the number of companies which will be required to report on Corporate Sustainability Matters, a Value Chain Cap limiting data requests is also proposed together with a simplification of the European Sustainability Reporting Standards and potentially a move away from the concept of Reasonable Assurance. It is noted that the proposed Directives to amend the existing Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive require the agreement of the European Parliament and Council. Member States will also be required to transpose the Directives into their own legislation. Ecovis DCA are closely monitoring this evolving situation and will ensure all affected clients are kept informed regarding the changing requirements.

Summary

Despite the fact that the above Directives, if approved, will significantly delay mandatory reporting and reduce the scope and content of that reporting, there is no doubt that Sustainability and ESG remains a core topic and key area of focus and we encourage all entities to actively embrace and develop this concept to ensure that their business model remains relevant, sustainable and competitive and continues to deliver value for both shareholders and stakeholders.

Global Network & Expertise

As part of ECOVIS International—a network of tax advisors, accountants, auditors, and lawyers in over 90 countries—we incorporate global best practices into our accounting solutions. Learn more about our global network at ECOVIS Global.