The sustainability of the company depends on relationships with employees, suppliers, customers and the community, say speakers at a webinar today.
They said entrepreneurs are taking steps to ensure their business growth through reporting Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities like medical facilities, education and building awareness about environmental threats and climate changes among the employees.
Speakers made the observations at the webinar styled ‘Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG)-Global Perspective’ organised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB).
The resilience of environmental and social threats would ensure more productivity of the industry, enhance the employee’s contribution to the development of the economy, they also said.
Md Tazul Islam, minister for Local Government Rural Development and Co-operatives, said governance is a system of rules, regulations, practices, and processes, by which a company is directed, operated, monitored, controlled and balance interests of company’s stakeholders.
“Successful businessmen attain sustainable business growth by taking together corporates, stakeholders, public and environment. While doing so, the roles of Auditors are commendable, as they act as a link between corporates and the public,” he said.
“CAs are doing very critical jobs especially in the field of auditing. Auditing is essential to corporations and society because it is a medium to build a good relationship between corporations and stakeholders,” he added.
Mahmudul Hasan Khusru, president of ICAB, said investors, regulators, consumers and media see how the company uses energy, manages its waste & pollution and deals with environmental risks and acts in the wake of disasters.
Citing examples from Europe and America regarding legal requirements and regulatory frameworks of corporate social responsibilities (CSR), the ICAB president said noncompliance with CSR policies are often undertaken as a legal punishment in those countries.
Their laws enforce corporations to make decisions based on the long term sustainability of the corporation rather than on profits and dividends alone, he said.
“The practice of CSR in Bangladesh is rather of negative impact, as structural approaches- through which CSR is administered and regulated – are often lacked practical applicability,” Khusru said.
