At a keynote discussion on Nov. 30 at the Lincoln Center campus, the media mogul argued that social, environmental, and governance issues like population growth, climate change, and technological advances can influence stock price performance and a corporation’s value in the long run.

“[Sustainability] is in the world’s interest and the companies’ interests,” he said.  Bloomberg, who has been a global leader on climate action for the business community and local governments, pointed out that long-term oriented investors tend to align with companies that are the “most resilient to catastrophe and efficiently-run.”

The panel discussion, moderated by Mary Schapiro, former chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), also featured William McNabb, chairman and CEO of the mutual fund giant Vanguard. It was part of the 2017 Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) Symposium, which was hosted by the Center for Professional Accounting Practices of the Gabelli School of Business. Focusing on market forces at work, the daylong event offered industry observations on sustainability disclosure, market standards, and investor demands from leaders of top companies such as JetBlue, UPS, Goldman Sachs, and Bank of America.

As head of a company that represents more than 20 million investors worldwide, McNabb penned an open letter this past August to directors of global public companies in Vanguard’s portfolio, in which he said that companies must stay abreast of risks and opportunities because they help boost shareholder value.

“If one company is doing a really good job of disclosing risks—whatever the risks may be—it allows you as an investor to have a much better perspective on what that company might be worth going forward,” he said. “I think as an investor that’s what you want to be doing.”

But investors aren’t the only ones paying attention. Bloomberg, who serves as the U.N’s Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change as well as chairman of the SASB Foundation board in addition to a host of other environmental organizations, said more people are gravitating toward companies that are making sustainability a priority—from prospective employees to new customers.

“In this day and age, when you’re recruiting young people out of college, they are interviewing you,” he said. “And they’ll say, for example, what are you doing in the climate area? So, it’s a real competitive thing to do well, and we keep trying to point that out to companies.”

To help companies improve sustainability disclosures in SEC filings, SASB has developed industry-specific sustainability accounting standards. According to Bloomberg and McNabb, this creates transparency and gives companies a competitive edge.

“We’ve always had a saying at Bloomberg that ‘if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it,’” Bloomberg said. “So, if investors want to look at what companies are doing, we make it easier for them to do it.”

The finance giants project that the marketplace, and not regulators, will be the most influential in bringing sustainability standards closer to the forefront. Bloomberg said that this is because, “it’s almost impossible to write one law that covers everything.”

For McNabb and Vanguard, the goal is for the market to coalesce around a framework that encourages companies to provide consistent and comparable disclosure.

“It’s pretty hard to argue that being well-governed is going to hurt your value,” he said.

The Center for Professional Accounting Practices (CPAP) nurtures interdisciplinary collaborations among policymakers as well as accounting, auditing, tax, and forensics professionals through informative research, workshops, lectures, and conferences.

“We really want to be a catalyst for change and a think tank for considering information,” said Barbara Porco, Ph.D., a clinical associate professor of accounting and taxation and co-director of CPAP.

With an emphasis on research of current practical relevance and cultivating partnerships with distinguished advisers and professionals who are engaged in innovative work, CPAP is primed to be on the front line of change in the marketplace. This approach will also allow the center to bridge the gap between academia and the accounting profession.

“Our goal is to reflect what’s happening in the practice,” said Stanley Veliotis, Ph.D., associate professor of accounting and taxation and co-director of CPAP. “If we’re just talking to our own students, then we’re talking to ourselves. This is an opportunity to get the word out to people who are also practicing accounting.”

Last fall, CPAP hosted “OECD’s Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Project and International Corporate Tax Avoidance,” which highlighted changes in the international tax system and the tax planning techniques of global companies. The panelists included notable accounting experts Greg Ballentine, Ph.D, a former associate director of the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Management and Budget; Reed College professor Kimberly Clausing, Ph.D, an award-winning researcher on international taxation and tax avoidance; Manal Corwin, KPMG LLP’s national service line leader for international tax; and NYU Law professor Mitchell Kane, a former clerk for the Honorable Karen LeCraft Henderson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

Though CPAP is in the early stages of its development, its directors said it has the potential to create impact by promoting engaging discussions, not just about current tax issues, but also about auditing and assurance, fraud, financial analysis, and sustainability reporting. According to Porco, these practices tend to overlap, but have traditionally been examined separately in academia. CPAP hopes to change that.

“Accounting professionals have to understand data analytics and how information is processed in order to audit and provide assurance,” she explained. “They also have to understand how the data is stored, communicated, and transferred.”

Porco said a holistic approach to accounting would enable practitioners to confidently cultivate financial, environmental, and social growth—or a “triple bottom line” for their clients and organizations.

CPAP is equally committed to furthering conversations about the latest strategies for detecting fraud and best practices in fraud prevention, which can ultimately take the profession to new heights.

“The center is a breeding ground to talk about things that can lead to improvements and policy changes in the profession,” said Veliotis.