Finance has entered a new era. What was once considered peripheral to financial reporting—environmental impact, social responsibility, governance structures—now commands boardroom attention and shapes investment decisions. At our recent event featuring ESG expert Lee Stewart, a fundamental truth emerged: there exists a significant skills gap between traditional accounting expertise and the emerging demands of ESG reporting, strategy, and implementation.
Where Traditional Finance Meets Sustainability
The intersection of finance and sustainability represents one of the most dynamic growth areas in professional services today. During our discussions, Lee Stewart highlighted a crucial insight: accountants excel at backward-looking analysis but often lack the forward-looking capabilities needed for effective ESG planning.
“Accountants are trained to document what has happened with precision,” Lee noted, “but forecasting future emissions requires an entirely different skill set grounded in climate science and risk modelling.”
This observation perfectly captures the transformation happening in finance departments worldwide. Traditional accounting skills—while essential—are no longer sufficient for organisations navigating the complex waters of sustainability planning and reporting.
Professional Bodies Leading the Change
Encouragingly, professional accounting bodies are recognising this skills evolution and taking action. As discussed at our event, the Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CA ANZ) has initiated important conversations about future skill requirements for their members. These discussions focus on how the accounting profession must evolve to meet emerging ESG challenges.
“These meetings represent a significant shift in how the profession views its role,” shared one attendee who participates in these discussions. “The Institute is exploring how to support members through this transition—from updated certification programs to specialised ESG training modules.”
This institutional support signals a profound change. Rather than treating sustainability as a niche specialisation, professional accounting bodies are beginning to recognise ESG competencies as core to the future of accounting. Their involvement will be crucial in:
- Updating professional qualification frameworks to include sustainability components
- Developing continuing professional education focused on forward-looking climate analysis
- Creating specialised ESG certifications for accounting professionals
- Establishing best practices for integrated financial and sustainability reporting
- Providing resources that bridge accounting expertise with climate science
The Forward-Looking Challenge
This forward-looking capability gap represents one of the most significant challenges in ESG implementation. While accounting professionals can meticulously track historical emissions data, they typically haven’t been equipped to:
- Model climate scenarios and their financial implications
- Forecast emissions trajectories under different business strategies
- Quantify climate-related risks over long time horizons
- Develop science-based targets aligned with global climate goals
- Translate climate science into financial planning assumptions
The Rise of Cross-Functional ESG Teams
What we’re seeing emerge is a new model of cross-functional collaboration. Rather than expecting accountants to become climate scientists overnight, forward-thinking organisations are creating integrated teams where diverse expertise converges:
- Accounting professionals provide the financial rigour and reporting discipline
- Climate scientists contribute scientific modelling and emissions forecasting
- Risk management specialists identify and quantify emerging ESG risks
- Data analysts develop predictive models and scenario analyses
- Strategy consultants integrate sustainability considerations into business planning
Evolving Job Descriptions
This cross-functional approach is fundamentally reshaping job descriptions across finance departments. We’re already seeing this transformation in the roles we recruit for:
- Traditional Role → Evolved Role
- Financial Controller → ESG Financial Controller (with emissions accounting expertise)
- Financial Analyst → Climate Financial Analyst (with scenario modelling capabilities)
- Management Accountant → Sustainability Management Accountant (with science-based target setting skills)
- Finance Business Partner → ESG Finance Business Partner (with climate risk advisory skills)
- Financial Planning Analyst → Climate-Adjusted Financial Planning Analyst (integrating climate scenarios into forecasts)
The most successful candidates for these evolved roles demonstrate not only strong financial fundamentals but also a willingness to collaborate with experts from scientific and risk disciplines.
Building Bridges Between Disciplines
At Moir Group ESG, we see our role as complementary to the efforts of professional bodies like the Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CA ANZ). While they focus on updating professional standards and qualifications, we’re facilitating this cross-disciplinary integration in several practical ways:
- Identifying Transferable Skills: Recognising which financial competencies can be effectively applied to sustainability challenges
- Facilitating Knowledge Transfer: Creating events where accountants can learn from climate scientists and vice versa
- Promoting Hybrid Roles: Recruiting for positions that explicitly bridge financial expertise with sustainability knowledge
- Developing Training Pathways: Helping finance professionals acquire the additional skills needed for forward-looking ESG work
We’re also actively engaging with professional accounting bodies, providing real-world feedback from our recruitment experience to inform how their training programs evolve.
The Future of Finance and Sustainability Integration
Looking ahead, we anticipate the line between traditional finance roles and sustainability functions will continue to blur. The collaboration between professional bodies, educational institutions, and specialised recruiters like us will be essential in creating this new generation of finance professionals.
For accountants looking to remain at the forefront of their profession, engaging with the resources and training being developed by their professional bodies will be crucial. These initiatives, combined with practical experience in cross-functional teams, will shape the finance leaders of tomorrow.
At Moir Group ESG, we’re committed to facilitating this integration—identifying candidates who can bridge disciplines, creating learning opportunities through our events, and helping organisations design team structures that combine complementary skill sets.
By operating in this specialised niche where finance meets sustainability, we’re not just filling roles—we’re helping reshape how businesses approach one of their most significant challenges: preparing for a future that requires new skills, new collaborations, and new ways of thinking about the accounting profession.
If you have any recruitment needs in your team on a permanent or temporary basis we would be delighted to assist.
Moir Group is a specialist finance, accounting and ESG recruitment company. We cover temporary and permanent roles from Financial Accountant to CFO level. We also recruit Sustainability and ESG Accountant positions across all industry sectors. Contact us here.