Early bird deadline: 21 March 2025
Application deadline: 30 June 2025
Start date: 1 September 2025
Empowering finance leaders to embed sustainability successfully.
The A4S Academy equips finance teams with the skills and technical knowledge to embed sustainability into financial processes and decision making.
Gain a deep understanding of how to integrate sustainability into financial practices, to build a resilient, future-fit organization.
The A4S Academy
The A4S Academy is an online learning and implementation programme that builds finance teams' knowledge, skills and action on sustainability.
The programme includes live interactive seminars, which are spread over five weeks, to fit your schedule. We will then support you to create and execute an implementation plan to deliver positive change within your organization. Plans focus on key objectives to help integrate sustainability into financial decision making at both strategic and operational levels.
Delivered by Accounting for Sustainability (A4S), the programme is designed for finance team members and those who can enact change in finance.
This is a global programme, welcoming participants from all regions and geographies.
Why join the A4S Academy?
Benefits for your organization
- Build a finance team that is fit for the future. Address capability gaps and equip your finance teams with the skills and competencies required to build a sustainable, resilient future.
- Create positive change within your organization.
- Enable your organization to deal with social and environmental risks and opportunities.
- Create and deliver an implementation plan to turn learning into direct impact for your organization.
Share this summary with your CFO to demonstrate the benefits of the A4S Academy programme:
Benefits for you as a participant
- Gain a deeper understanding of how to integrate sustainability into financial practices.
- Build leadership and influence skills to help inspire and drive change.
- Collaborate with a unique global network of peers across many of today’s largest and leading organizations, sharing insights and best practices.
- Take practical action on sustainability and have a direct impact on your finance team and wider organization.
Programme outcomes
Embedded sustainability
Empowering you to drive change, the A4S Academy equips you with the tools, skills and confidence required to navigate environmental and social challenges and opportunities.
This programme supports participants to embed sustainability into financial processes and decision-making. At the end of the programme you will have made tangible, positive changes within your organization.
Cultural and practical change
After five weeks of live, interactive seminars, you are supported to create and execute a 12-month plan to deliver positive change for your organization.
Successful completion of the programme requires the submission of a final report, which demonstrates the progress made against the objectives set out in your plan.
Global community
As a graduate of the A4S Academy, you are invited to join the A4S Academy Alumni network – a global community of finance professionals, which provides opportunities to connect through exclusive events, access to ongoing support, and a forum to share knowledge and ideas.
Participant reviews
96%
of participants would recommend the A4S Academy to a peer or colleague.
88%
of participants said they have gained the technical knowledge and skills to lead on change.
85%
of participants reported that their participation made an impact on sustainability integration in their organization within a year.
Why CFOs send their teams to the A4S Academy
A recent survey of finance leaders (A4S Finance Leaders’ Sustainability Barometer) found that that there is a gap between sustainability ambitions and the work needed to make them a reality.
While 88% of respondents agreed that it was very important or essential to transform financial decision making to address the opportunities and risks posed by environmental and social issues, just 9% said their organizations are currently able to respond fully to sustainability factors and incorporate them into decisions.
Hear from CFOs on the value their teams have gained from the A4S Academy.
Overview
Key dates:
Early bird deadline: 21 March 2025
Application deadline: 30 June 2025
Start date: 1 September 2025
Programme runs: September 2025 – October 2026
Graduation: December 2026
Format:
5 weeks of live, interactive online seminars.
12 months of implementation – turn theory into action and deliver change within own organizations.
Combination of mandatory and optional seminars, enabling a tailored learning experience.
15-30 hours of contact time, and 2-4 hours of pre-work per seminar, not including time spent on implementation plans.
Delivered by A4S experts, external coaches and members of the A4S CFO Leadership Network.
Audience:
Typical participants include:
- Divisional CFOs, Controllers, Treasurers
- Directors / Heads / Managers of: Finance, Accounting, Investor Relations, Internal Audit, Financial Reporting, Financial Planning and Analysis, Business Finance
- Professionals without accounting or finance backgrounds are welcome to join the Academy.
Programme content
Gain access to experienced practitioners, resources tailored for finance teams, and skills development sessions to support you in embedding sustainability in your organization. Content covered on the programme includes:
- Strategic planning
- Budgeting
- Management information
- Capex
- Debt finance
- Reporting
- Nature and the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures
- Transition planning
Impact of the A4S Academy
Over 500 participants from 200+ organizations have already taken part in the A4S Academy.
2023 A4S Academy Yearbook
A4S Academy Award Winners
Read about the participants who have shown commitment and resilience, have innovated and inspired, and become true champions of sustainability in finance.