The Accounting Paradox - by Jeremy Nicholls

About the Book

Think accounting is dull? Think again. What we accept as 'true and fair' in businesses' accounts is the key to a more just, sustainable future for all of us. Here's how we make the change.

Book Synopsis

When you think about the tools at our disposal to address the ecological, social and biodiversity challenges we face today, accounting might not immediately come to mind. And yet it is accounting standards, not science and not public policy, that set out how profit is calculated, which in turn drives investment decisions. What if we demanded that those standards reflect the true cost of business and its consequences?

Unless we look again at these fundamental principles, which have gone under the radar for so long, capital markets will continue to contribute to inequality, nature loss and climate change. What's remarkable is that we already have in place everything we need for a more just and complete approach to accounting, and forward-thinking businesses are beginning to recognize that.

Jeremy Nicholls - accountant, sustainability professional, historian and activist - sets out a vision for new way of accounting, and it's one that we can adopt immediately.

From the Back Cover

In today's ecological, social, and biodiversity crises, accounting rarely makes the list.

But it should.

Our system of accounting standards and regulation defines how profit is calculated. Some costs are included; others are excluded and left to society. Unless we re-examine this system, which has long operated beneath public awareness, capital markets will continue to fuel inequality, nature loss, and climate breakdown. We already have in place everything we need for a more just and complete approach to accounting, and forward-thinking businesses are beginning to recognize that.

This book is a detective story, a history, and a manifesto for change. But it is also deeply human. Changing the way we account could unlock what's best in us: our creativity, kindness, and ability to build a future worth living in.

Jeremy Nicholls -- accountant, sustainability professional, and activist -- offers a radical but practical vision for new accounting. One we can start using now.

'The course correct we need for the twenty- first century.' - Ben Carpenter, CEO, Social Value International

About the Author

Jeremy Nicholls has spent his career challenging how we account for value. He trained and worked with PwC, spending time living and working in both Liberia and Tanzania. He went on to co-found and lead Social Value International, a global community of social accountants, before contributing to the United Nations Development Programme's SDG Impact Standards. Jeremy is an Ashoka Fellow, an honorary senior fellow at the University of Liverpool, and remains involved with other organizations and initiatives focused on the intersection between accounting and sustainability.