The referral service will equip accountants with a Smart ESG solution, leveraging innovative AI software, best practices and tech-enabled double materiality identification

The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) and Datamaran, a market leader in Smart ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) software, today announced a referral offering to equip CPAs, management accountants and finance professionals with AI-powered ESG software. 

Talking about the new offering, Jeremy Osborn, global head of ESG for the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants, comprised of CIMA and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, said: “Identification of material sustainability risks, opportunities and impacts is the starting point of the new sustainability reporting standards in the European Union and amongst jurisdictions around the world which are adopting the IFRS sustainability-related financial disclosure standards. There is now an urgency for listed companies to understand how they will report against them. Datamaran’s AI-powered ESG platform provides companies with a sprint start in how to do so.”

Marjella Lecourt-Alma, CEO and co-founder of Datamaran, said: “This collaboration between Datamaran and CIMA underpins the growing need for finance professionals to be prepared with the most up-to-date developments in ESG standards. CFOs often collaborate with Legal and ESG teams on business strategy. As such, it’s imperative that finance and accounting professionals have the knowledge, skills and technology they need to reach their ESG goals. We’re pleased to see CIMA supporting their members on their professional ESG journey, and we’re excited to help enable them with tools to do so.”

Accountants and finance professionals are playing an increasingly pivotal role in ensuring that businesses actively manage their sustainability-related risks, opportunities and impacts. The new referral offering addresses the need for finance teams to have data-driven solutions for identifying material sustainability issues so they can better support stakeholders, especially those implementing the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRSs), IFRS S1 and S2, the US SEC Climate Disclosure Rules and the State of California’s climate reporting laws. Datamaran offers a data-driven, auditable, and scalable approach backed by practical ESG knowledge.

Using Datamaran’s ESG governance workflow, companies can redesign and improve internal controls over ESG. The software empowers accountants and finance professionals to build a streamlined business process, with an evidence-based and auditable materiality assessment and matrix.

Datamaran provides a consistent methodology and rationale for identifying and monitoring a company’s material issues. This approach is fully auditable as every step of every stage is documented and evidenced, with all raw data traceable to the source – resulting in a smoother audit experience. Through this collaboration, CIMA will refer businesses that need assistance identifying their material sustainability issues and determining the impacts, risks, and opportunities needed for robust disclosure and audit preparation to Datamaran.

Related Article: EFRAG Partners with Datamaran for Smart ESG Solutions in Developing European Sustainability Reporting Standards

Datamaran has recently launched a new Targets feature, as well as enhancements to its double materiality module, providing market-leading, data-driven Smart ESG capabilities. Smart ESG software empowers companies with evidence-based intelligence and tools to prioritize ESG issues, bring expertise in-house, and monitor real-time issues to strengthen governance and inform C-Suite decision-making.