Promoting SDGs

ーInitiatives by CPAs Aimed at Building a Sustainable Societyー

We at the JICPA have published the SDGs Declaration and forged ahead initiatives toward achieving the SDGs.
Details of our SDGs initiatives, including the approaches and specific action plans, are as shown below.

Challenges and approaches for building a sustainable society

Under the mission to “contribute to the sound development of the national economy,” CPAs have contributed to society through their duties. In the future, changes taking place in society will likely become bigger, faster, and less predictable than ever before. As such, we believe both CPAs and the JICPA are urged to make an even greater contribution to solving social issues. With this in mind, the JICPA established a special committee called the Committee for the JICPA’s Challenges and Initiatives for Building a Sustainable Society (the “Committee”) in May 2018. With an understanding of the goals of the SDGs, which are vigorously pursued both at home and abroad, and issues facing Japanese society, the Committee examines the roles of the JICPA and CPAs in society, the challenges we face in helping build a sustainable society, and the approaches for addressing the initiatives. As a result, the Committee developed its 2019 interim report on its view on the ideal future society and what CPAs should aspire to be, as well as the approaches for addressing the initiatives. In line with the SDGs for 2030, the interim report has set the year 2030 as a milestone, and further showed the approaches that both CPAs and the JICPA should take toward 2048, the year that will mark the 100th anniversary of Japan’s CPA system.

Ideal future society and what CPAs should aspire to be

Ideal future society

Among a range of social issues, those that are important for Japan to build a sustainable society include declining population, aging society with low birth rates, natural disasters, and the aging of social infrastructure. The Committee has therefore defined the ideal future society as one that allows for efficient, effective, and expeditious use of resources to solve all social issues under the condition of declining population and low economic growth, thereby balancing out economic development and resolution of social issues.

What CPAs should aspire to be

For CPAs to contribute to realizing the ideal future society, they are expected to make use of their unique strengths, including extensive expert knowledge and work experience, a strong sense of ethics, and the ability to identify and solve problems. Declaring that CPAs and the JICPA aspire to be professional partners that jointly build a sustainable and viable society, we have developed the following three initiatives: Dissemination of information to society, Proactive interaction, and Innovation of ourselves (Change in our mindset).”

SDGs Declaration

In the face of drastic changes in environment

The COVID-19 pandemic in recent years have had a significant impact on people’s lives, threatening their safety and security and thereby giving rise to drastic changes in the social environment. The JICPA has continued to work in line with the approaches outlined in the interim report. Meanwhile, we believe that, in view of such changes in the social environment, we need to work harder to overcome the crisis facing us and pave the way for a brighter future.

Building on a foundation of trust

Trust is what we need in this rapidly changing, unpredictable, and uncertain era. A new way of life or a digitalized society could in a way pull people apart. We therefore believe that nurturing the trust we have built and reconnecting the ties will lead to building a brighter future. We may well say that the role of CPAs, whose main task is to secure the reliability of information from an independent standpoint, has become greater than ever before.

Formulating the SDGs Declaration

Based on this belief, the JICPA formulated the SDGs Declaration and set out three pillars and key priorities, along with specific initiatives and action plans. Going forward, we will further propel our initiatives forward to achieve the SDGs, while proactively disseminating information to society. In this way, we, as a professional partner, will implement our initiatives to nurture trust, create a prosperous society, and build a brighter future.

Action plan

The SDGs, adopted at the UN Summit, consist of 17 goals and 169 targets for achieving a sustainable society. Among these goals and targets, the JICPA selected eight goals to which CPAs are particularly well-positioned to contribute in line with our SDGs Declaration, bearing in mind the ideal future society and what CPAs should aspire to be.

We have divided the areas in which we believe CPAs can contribute to achieving the SDGs into the following three pillars: Economy, Society, and People and Environment. We have then defined specific initiatives in each of these pillars as key priorities.