ICAS’s top Scottish accountants under 35 in profile

The global body of finance professionals said the list, which includes entries spanning six continents, recognises “the best and brightest Chartered Accountants who are making a difference to the profession and to society”.

For the next 15 days Scottish Financial News will be profiling each of the Scottish representatives.

Today we profile: George Cobb CA, 34, Group Sustainable Accountant, Scottish and Southern Energy, Perth, who is nominated in the Sustainability & CSR catagory.

More information on ICAS’s 35 Chartered Accountants (CAs) under 35.

George Cobb CA, 34, Group Sustainable Accountant, Scottish and Southern Energy, Perth

Dr George Cobb is the Group Sustainability Accountant at SSE Plc, a FTSE 350 company based in Perth. He currently also holds the positions of Chair of the ICAS Sustainability Committee and Vice Chair of HRH’s Accounting for Sustainability (A4S) CFO Network Capex project. George believes passionately in what he is doing and actively seeks to share his views, work and understanding of the developing sustainability field. In 2015 George won the Finance leader of the future award in the Finance for the Future Awards.

“After graduating with a BA in Accounting from the University of Dundee, I completed an MA investigating ethical investment and the performance of the FTSE4Good indices, followed by a PhD in financial reporting.

Prior to joining SSE in 2010 as part of their group audit function, I completed my CA training with PwC in their Edinburgh and Aberdeen offices. I have published in both international accounting journals and non-academic publications. The reason I choose sustainability is that I want to help companies make better business decisions that consider more than financial implications so we all have a sustainable future.

Being a CA has internally provided me core skills in analytical thinking and an evidence based approach. Externally it has provided me the reputation and professionalism to be an authority of knowledge and truth”.