To Learn — and Be Certified In — Sustainability Reporting

Uncategorized | Feb 18, 2022 | Gabelli School of Business

A new business course enables Fordham students to pursue the foremost professional credential in the field of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reporting. The credential is known as FSA Level 1 certification, for Fundamentals of Sustainability Accounting.

Students who take the course have access to case studies, data sets, guest speakers, and other resources provided by a partnership between the Value Reporting Foundation and Fordham’s Gabelli School of Business. Both the course and the FSA credential emphasize the connection between financial sustainability reporting and a business’s ability to drive value.

Demand for courses of this nature is expected to rise. As more companies issue standardized ESG disclosures, they will need professionals who can prepare and use both financial and sustainability information.

The Fordham course, titled Sustainability Disclosures and SASB Standards, was offered for the first time in fall 2021 with instruction from two experts in the field: Barbara Porco, PhD, and Tim Hedley, PhD. Students discovered how sustainability issues affect business value and learned how to better integrate ESG data into reporting, corporate strategy, and investment analysis. The course aligns with the Gabelli School’s broad investment in educating students in sustainability accounting: the accounting major offers a track devoted to this area, and all undergraduates have the option of pursuing a minor.

Gabelli School students who complete this course take a concrete step toward joining a growing number of professionals who have earned an FSA credential — more than 3,000 people in more than 50 countries, according to the Value Reporting Foundation, a leading global nonprofit that maintains the SASB Standards for sustainability reporting.

“There are many skills needed to lead businesses in a responsible way, but one key aspect is sustainability reporting,” Porco said. “This new pathway toward the FSA credential further enables the Gabelli School to offer unparalleled sustainability education opportunities for our students.”