1st Edition
The Sustainable Business Blueprint Planning, Performance, Risk, Reporting, and Assurance
Understanding how to build and manage a sustainability business plan has become a business imperative as investors demand, regulators require, and stakeholders increasingly expect companies to report their financial economic sustainability performance (ESP) and non-financial environmental, social, and governance (ESG) sustainability information. This book provides both the rationale for and key practical steps in how to approach business sustainability factors of planning, performance, risk, reporting, and assurance.
This comprehensive book covers all the areas that a business would need to embed, articulate, and execute a strategy of profit-with-purpose in promoting shared value creation for all stakeholders. It addresses drivers, sources, and international guidelines (GRI, IIRC, SASB, FASB, PCAOB, IAASB, ISSB) for prioritising business sustainability factors, and establishing the link between ESG performance and financial performance. It presents key performance indicators (KPIs) of ESP and ESG dimensions of sustainability performance. It also provides templates for performance, risk, and disclosure; presenting cases and examples of why to disclose ESG performance, what to disclose, and where and how to disclose ESG performance information.
For businesses wanting a detailed understanding of how to deliver on these important areas, including boards of directors, senior management, financial officers, internal auditors, external auditors, legal counsel, investors, and regulators, this book is an invaluable resource.
1 Introduction to the Sustainable Business Factors of Planning, Performance, Risk, and Disclosure; 2 Business Sustainability Models: Shareholder Primacy and Stakeholder Primacy; 3 Profit-With-Purpose Sustainability and Shared Value Concept; 4 Business Sustainability Strategic Plans; 5 Business Sustainability Performance; 6 Corporate Sustainability Capital; 7 Business Sustainability Risk; 8 Sustainability Disclosure and Reporting; 9 Sustainability Assurance and Ratings; 10 Contemporary Issues in Business Sustainability
Biography
Zabihollah (Zabi) Rezaee is the Thompson-Hill Chair of Excellence and Professor of Accounting at the Crews School of Accountancy of the University of Memphis. He has served a two-year term (2004–2006) on the Standing Advisory Group (SAG) of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) and is Honorary Advisor of the Accounting and Financial Reporting Council (AFRC) in Hong Kong (December 2019–September 2025).
“Zabihollah Rezaee, an academic expert in the field of business sustainability, provides an exploration of environmental, social and governance factors together with economic financial performance and ethics. His analysis offers readers insights into the complex interplay between sustainability and operating a contemporary business from strategic planning to disclosure and assurance.”
Brigitte W. Muehlmann, Ph.D., CPA, Professor of Accounting, Babson College
“This book by Dr. Zabihollah Rezaee is an excellent practitioner book that addresses important and emerging issues of sustainability including strategic planning, performance, risk, reporting, and assurance. It has chapters on shareholder and stakeholder primacy in the context of a corporate mission of profit-with-purpose and discusses how business organizations can focus on achieving financial economic sustainability while generating a desired rate of return for their shareholders and simultaneously producing a positive social and environmental impact.”
Dr. Kenneth Lambert, Professor and Interim Director, Crews School of Accountancy
In this book, Dr. Rezaee competently examines an integrated and strategic approach to business sustainability planning, performance, risk, reporting, and assurance, including the fiduciary roles of those charged with governance. Specifically, Dr. Rezaee conveys his deep understanding of the emerging ESG landscape by revealing what his mind has grasped, while suitably highlighting for the reader what has grasped his mind…”
Dr. Sridhar Ramamoorti, University of Dayton
