AICPA offers help with disaster preparedness and ESG

The American Institute of CPAs is teaming up with other organizations to help accountants cope with natural disasters, as well as learn more about advisory services in the environmental, social and governance area.

The AICPA, the American Red Cross and the National Endowment for Financial Education have developed Disasters and Financial Planning: A Guide for Preparedness and Recovery, an interactive guide designed to help families take proactive steps and minimize the potential impact of natural disasters on your life and hard-earned money. The AICPA and the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants also have a Disaster Relief Resource Center with information to help accountants and their clients cope with natural disasters and learn about the disaster tax relief available from the Internal Revenue Service.

The Red Cross also offers a Plan and Prepare online tool that helps individuals plan and prepare for events at home, school, and the workplace, along with tools and apps.

Separately, the AICPA's business and technology arm, CPA.com, is partnering with Good.Lab, a provider of ESG software and consulting services, on a new ESG practice development program to help accounting firms respond to increasing demand from clients for ESG advisory services. The program began with an initial group of five firms from the AICPA Major Firms Group that are receiving educational content, hands-on training, enablement tools, and timely insights developed by CPA.com and Good.Lab. A second cohort of firms is planned for late fall. The AICPA and CPA.com hosted an ESG Symposium on Wednesday to bring together top ESG leaders to exchange ideas and discuss the accounting profession's role in ESG.

Good.Lab participated last year in the AICPA and CPA.com Startup Accelerator program and has helped develop and implement the sustainability programs at Fortune 500 companies and integrate ESG factors into their business strategies. The training will focus on building a revenue-generating practice at CPA firms and defining service offerings, sales approach, revenue model, how to engage with existing clients on the topic and client delivery tools.

"The increasing market demand for ESG services is providing significant opportunities for the accounting profession," said CPA.com president and CEO Erik Asgeirsson in a statement Tuesday. "Similar to programs we have rolled out with firms in other practice areas like CAS, we know there is more to driving large scale adoption than simply identifying the right technology solution. Technology is a key component; however, business model strategy, training and awareness are just as critical to firm success. We partnered with Good.Lab, a trusted ESG expert, to develop a holistic program to accelerate firms' expansion of services into the category."