For example, large institutional investors, including sovereign wealth funds, have started to channel more funds to firms with sustainability commitments. Admittedly, the progress made on this front has been rather modest thus far, but it does have the potential to enable a wider range of stakeholders to determine the sustainability of finance and its role in facilitating sustainable economic growth. Conclusion I have not actually finished my story on the Challenger shuttle disaster at the beginning of my speech. After the harrowing accident, President Reagan formed the Rogers Commission to investigate the incident, and it was found that the accident could have been avoided entirely. The special commission reported that NASA’s organisational culture and decision-making processes were key contributing factors to the catastrophic event. NASA managers had been aware of the potentially fatal flaw in the O-rings since 1977, but did not respond appropriately. And on that fateful morning, warnings from engineers about the risks of launching in the low temperatures were met with contempt, and the superiors were not adequately notified of these technical concerns. Therein lies the importance of governance structures and how decisions are made. Governance influences decisions, and decisions shape outcomes. It is no different for financial governance. Be it financial decisions at the international or national level, public or private, corporates or financial institutions, households or individuals, sound financial governance is the bedrock of stable and robust economies.
But, I caution you, this is only the first step in your careers as Accountants. Remember, “it is not what you learned, but how you use what you learned, that counts”. I came across a definition of an Accountant the other day. It said, “an accountant is someone who solves a problem that you did not know you had, in a way that you don’t understand”! BIS Review 49/2010  1  I hope that tonight’s Graduates do not end up being one of these Accountants, who creates a problem first and then pretends to solve it. And, worse still, they end up charging the client for something that was not there in the first place! It’s almost like being a lawyer! The recent global financial crisis started from a liquidity shortfall in the United States. This liquidity shortfall resulted from many loans (especially for housing) going into default, and there were insufficient assets to cover these loans. As a result, many large banks and financial institutions went bankrupt. And, if it were not for the quick and substantial intervention by some major Governments and Central Banks, the global economy would have collapsed. Among others, the Accountants have been blamed for the “financial crisis”, as a result of their “creative accounting” techniques, which contributed to inflating the values of the assets which were used as collateral for the many risky loans that were issued.