Read: Accountancy can play a major role in shaping the levelling-up agenda

With its unparalleled reach and influence across business, accountancy can play a major role in shaping the levelling-up agenda, says former government minister and chartered accountant Justine Greening.

The concept of ‘levelling up’ was writ large throughout the recent Queen’s Speech, with measures ranging from the creation of freeports to a new programme designed to accelerate access to skills and training. While business groups have broadly welcomed the move to improve prospects and prosperity across the UK, amidst the backdrop of COVID and Brexit the government has at times struggled to articulate its levelling up agenda and how it will be achieved.

One thing that has become clear, as lockdown measures ease and the country looks to recover, is that levelling up is a political, social and economic imperative, and according to former government minister and chartered accountant Justine Greening, accountancy has the chance to take the lead and shape the agenda.

“The profession has a unique place, in that its reach and influence across business is unparalleled,” Greening told ICAEW Insights. “If it can be a profession that is open and progressive then that path will open to so many more people.”

Taking the business mantra ‘what can be measured can be managed’, Greening has put forward 14 levelling-up goals to help break down the challenges, from successful school years to closing the digital divide.

“It’s important to have a common language to report on this and set out what the S in ESG means in practice,” said Greening. “As professionals, chartered accountants can become a big part of how we hit these goals, and the profession can be one that people look at as an exemplar of how it’s done.”

During her time in Parliament and after leaving in 2019, Greening has campaigned for broadening social mobility and opportunity in the UK. In 2018 she co-founded the Social Mobility Pledge – the largest business campaign of its kind, bringing together a coalition of over 550 businesses employing over 5.5m people, alongside 90 universities across the UK.

“It seems to me that the debate has become ‘business is a problem that needs to be fixed,’ and we need to reshape this message,” said Greening. “There has always been a focus on closing the gaps in the education system, but we often miss how important a role business plays in connecting opportunity and careers.”

You can read the full Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales Insights piece here.