In a speech to mark the tenth anniversary of the founding of his Accounting for Sustainability project, Prince Charles said accountants needed to ‘convince’ their peers.

Addressing an audience of over 200 senior finance and accountancy leaders, he said: ‘If every one of you here in the room today manages to convince just five others to start accounting for sustainability, and then each one of them engages another five each year, in five years’ time we could reach all of the three million accountants in the world.

‘However, I hate to tell you that for obvious reasons five years is too long – so each of you needs to rush out and convince ten! And then accountants really will be helping to save the world.’

The Accounting for Sustainability (A4S) project was set up by the Prince of Wales to help encourage more resilient and sustainable economic and business models. It has established a leadership network for chief financial officers, which has produced practical guides on embedding sustainability in key finance activities. It also set up the International Integrated Reporting Councils, which is leading on work to transform corporate reporting.

Speaking at the summit today, A4S executive chair Jessica Fries said: ‘Over the ten years since our launch we have worked to dispel the idea that there has to be a choice between making money on one hand and “doing the right thing” on the other.

‘Making business decisions which are designed to build resilient business models will inevitably lead to a more sustainable economy. However time is not on our side. We have achieved a lot in ten years but there is still a great deal of work to do.’

Read Public Finance International's article on the Prince of Wales' challenge to accountants