By Nazatul Izma and MIA Strategic Communication and Branding Team
As sustainability gains increasing momentum, new and evolving roles are envisioned for accountancy professionals. They are especially critical in shaping the sustainable growth of Malaysia’s capital market.
“Today, the role of accounting professionals goes beyond ensuring the integrity of financial and sustainability reporting, which underpins investor confidence – a cornerstone of any well-functioning capital market. Accountants now play a strategic advisory role to top management, providing analysis and insights, and supporting business transformation and sustainability practices,” stated Dato’ Fad’l Mohamed, Chief Executive Officer of Bursa Malaysia in his special address titled Vision for Growing and Developing the Malaysian Capital Market – Bursa Malaysia’s Perspective at the recent MIA Capital Market Conference 2025.
NSRF – A Driver of Sustainability and Accountability
Championing sustainability excellence and decarbonisation among listed issuers (PLCs) is essential not only for supporting Malaysia’s energy transition, but also for ensuring that they remain globally competitive and investable. As the standard setter and key influencer of sustainability across the Malaysian capital market, Bursa has mapped out comprehensive support for PLCs to embark on their sustainability journey. This includes providing regulatory guidance, awareness and capacity-building initiatives, implementation and measurement tools such as CSI Solution, and decarbonisation platforms like Bursa Carbon Exchange, where companies can purchase renewable energy certificates or carbon credits to offset their greenhouse gas emissions.
Importantly, Dato’ Fad’l highlighted the significance of the National Sustainability Reporting Framework (NSRF) introduced last September. “The Framework plays a crucial role in enhancing accountability in how businesses manage sustainability risks to improve business resilience, while also adding urgency for PLCs to adopt sustainability practices,” he stressed.
Main Market-listed companies with a market capitalisation of RM2 billion and above (Group 1 PLCs) will be required to comply with the NSRF from the financial year ending 2025. The remaining Main Market-listed companies will follow in the subsequent year. For ACE Market-listed corporations, compliance will be required from the financial year ending 2027.
“In line with this, our key priority is to accelerate the maturity and readiness of listed issuers to meet these requirements. To support this, the Exchange initiated the Sustainability Accelerator Programme in May 2025 to support Group 1 PLCs,” added Dato’ Fad’l.
Calling for strategic collaboration, he stressed that the accountancy profession’s expertise is essential in advancing Malaysia’s sustainability agenda. “The success of NSRF will rely heavily on your profession to ensure that disclosures are accurate, consistent, and meaningful. In this new landscape, accountants are risk managers and strategic enablers.”
Driving Collaborative Leadership and Upskilling for Future Readiness
Dato’ Seri Dr. Mohamad Zabidi Ahmad, President of the Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA), emphasised the importance of strategic collaboration and upskilling in advocating for robust disclosures and sound business practices aligned with global standards and sustainable development goals.
For example, MIA works closely with the Capital Market Development Fund (CMDF) of the Securities Commission Malaysia to drive capital market-related talent development and technical capacity-building initiatives. Through CMDF support, MIA is able to offer capital market training programmes at subsidised rates for eligible accounting professionals — including this flagship Capital Market Conference.
The Conference programme was carefully curated to build capacity and competency among accountancy professionals on the following key developments, including:
- Updates on Malaysian Investment Reporting Standards (MIRS)
- ESG and sustainability leadership in public-listed companies
- IPO readiness and growth strategies for SMEs
- Co-investment opportunities via the Capital Market Sustainability Investment Fund (CoSIF)
- The impact of AI and blockchain on capital market operations
- Strategies for navigating global trade tensions, tariff changes, and economic volatility
Upskilling for Sustainability
Moving forward, MIA will continue to upskill accountancy professionals for sustainability to enable future readiness. The MIA Sustainability Blueprint for the Accountancy Profession (Sustainability Blueprint) aspires for accountancy professionals to flourish as sustainability leaders, sustainability advocators, and trust providers — working towards a future-proof profession.
Guided by the new MIA Sustainability Roadmap (Roadmap), members can anticipate another milestone in sustainability for the profession – the inaugural MIA Sustainability Showcase (MIA SS) which will be held on 10 December 2025.
A one-day, one-stop event that is strategically designed to accelerate the profession’s sustainability leadership and adoption of sustainable business practices, the MIA SS will bring together more than 500 senior delegates including accountancy professionals, CFOs, sustainability officers, regulators, auditors, consultants, and technology providers.
Through collaboration and networking, the MIA SS aims to advance Malaysia’s sustainability agenda in alignment with national priorities and global goals — steered by the MIA Sustainability Blueprint and Roadmap.
Guided by the theme Empowering Accountants for a Sustainable Future, the MIA SS 2025 will present content structured around two key pillars. First, Sustainability Frameworks, Regulations & Reporting sessions will familiarise members with the latest global and local standards, regulatory trends, and compliance requirements shaping the future of the profession. Second, Sustainability in Practice sessions will equip members to meet evolving compliance requirements (such as the NSRF, IFRS S1, and IFRS S2) and stakeholder demands.
This is an exciting time for the profession as it explores new horizons. MIA is committed to empowering accountancy professionals to transition into new roles and emerge as future-proof leaders of sustainability.
