In this episode of the Better Finance podcast, Myles Corson discusses the growing importance of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues in the real estate investment trusts (REITs) sector. He is joined by Fulya Kocak, senior vice president of ESG issues for National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (Nareit) and Serena Wolfe, chief financial officer of Annaly Capital Management. Listen as they delve into the role of REITs as ESG change agents and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the ESG ecosystem. Get insights into the latest ESG initiatives in the real estate sector.

The impact of the global pandemic has pushed businesses to adapt and embrace innovative ideas for decision-making processes along with acting as agents of change. While it proved to be an adaptability test for almost all sectors, the initiative also revealed gaps and issues that could be resolved through with great solutions and ESG strategies.

For real estate companies, the pandemic led to changes in how they operate including updates to cleaning protocols in anticipation of reopening workspaces. Additionally, property owners and landlords invested in the latest technologies for indoor air quality, studied energy consumption versus occupancy and witnessed an increase in health and wellness rating applications. This shift indicates the growing importance of ESG initiatives and compliance in the industry.

Annaly Capital Management brought together its infrastructure, IT infrastructure and human capital in ways never considered before, in response to the magnified importance of emergency planning and system resiliency.

Given the challenges faced through the pandemic, investors are not only focused on how businesses are responding to COVID, but also on the business continuity plan. With a growing focus on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices and meeting stakeholder expectations, it is crucial for CFOs to lead the way in defining the company's and industry's ESG strategy. Being proactive and instrumental in shaping the company's ESG approach helps it stay ahead of evolving ESG regulations.

The CFO now plays a critical role in managing change, assessing where the company is today and how it can benefit from the ESG ecosystem in the future. It's an opportunity to make a long-lasting, meaningful impact in the face of continued uncertainty and disruption.

Stakeholder engagement is a critical part of the CFO's role around ESG. CFO leadership today is more proactive and instrumental in helping the C-Suite define what ESG means for the organization.

Good sustainability leadership is not tied to a title or a person. The key is to have passion, the ability to endure change and implement strategies, and strong communication and collaboration skills.

There's an incredible amount of entrepreneurship and interest around ESG topics. CFO's should empower their people to embrace new ideas, because it's an opportunity for everybody to make a long-lasting, meaningful impact.

The views and opinions expressed are those of the individuals and do not reflect the official policy or position of EY or any other organization.

© 2021 Ernst & Young Global Limited

In this episode of the Better Finance podcast, Myles Corson is joined by Dave O'Hara, corporate vice president and chief financial officer for Commercial Finance at Microsoft.

Dave shares how his unconventional career path, going from public policy and economic development to a friend's software company, eventually led to being CFO of a major division in Microsoft. He attributes his career success to never staying too comfortable and embracing change, never backing down from a challenge, and finding the right mentor who will help you think differently and grow your career.

Podcast host Myles Corson welcomes Ryan Grimsland, Senior Vice President Corporate Finance and Treasurer at Lowe's Companies, and Loren Garruto, EY Partner and Global and Americas Corporate Finance Leader. Together, they discuss how finance can enable business to better manage unpredictable market behavior as seen during the COVID-19 pandemic. They take a closer look at the challenges caused by the pandemic and how becoming more agile in forecasting and planning can help the business prepare for future disruptions.

Find out more about the role of tomorrow's CFO and the future skills of finance. Podcast host Myles Corson welcomes Simon Bittlestone, CEO of Metapraxis, a financial analytics company, and Andrew Harding, chief executive of Management Accounting at the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants, which was created in 2017 when they brought together the American Institute of CPAs and the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA).

Podcast host Myles Corson welcomes Brian Tomlinson, Director of Research, CEO Investor Forum, Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose (CECP), and Marc Siegel, a member of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) and EY partner. Together they discuss the acceleration of ESG, or environmental, social and governance, issues in corporate reporting. Their conversation also considers the increasingly vital role ESG plays in investor communications and what investors are looking for companies to disclose. © 2021 Ernst & Young LLP

Podcast host Myles Corson welcomes Michael Keeler, Chief Executive Officer of LeaseAccelerator, to discuss how technology and managed services are transforming lease accounting. Together, they take a closer look at the challenges, administrative burdens and missed cost saving opportunities of large lease portfolios. The conversation continues with managed services and how technology is helping to automate, harmonize and simplify the leasing process and lease accounting compliance.

© 2020 Ernst & Young LLP

Podcast host Myles Corson welcomes Dr. Matthew Bell, EY's Asia Pacific Climate Change and Sustainability Services (CCaSS) Leader, to discuss his varied career path and key findings from the 2020 EY CCaSS Institutional Investor survey, How will ESG performance shape your future?

© 2020 Ernst & Young LLP

Podcast host Myles Corson welcomes Marna Ricker, EY Americas Vice Chair – Tax. They discuss the depth of the US government response to COVID-19 and the impact the 2020 US presidential election will have on the tax landscape and overall economy. Their discussion also analyzes the role that technology has played in tax during COVID-19, and the types of technology and software CFOs and tax executives are seeking out to help them access more data at a faster pace.

© 2020 Ernst & Young LLP

Trust is the foundation on which organizations can build stakeholder confidence and active participation with their AI systems. However, in the finance world, one mistake, or the perception of a mistake, can harm an organization's trust in the technology. How do finance functions build trust into their AI?

Podcast host Myles Corson welcomes Cathy Cobey, EY's Global Trusted AI Advisory Leader, to discuss how she helps organizations understand some of the new risks that AI brings and how, most importantly, they can start to create the right governance and control mechanisms.

They explore the broad definition of AI, and its growing use in the COVID-19 landscape. With AI introducing new risks and impacts that have historically been the purview of human decision-making, organizations need a new framework for identifying, measuring and responding to the risks of AI to make it operational. © 2020 Ernst & Young LLP.

Podcast host Myles Corson welcomes back Paul Brody, EY Global Blockchain Leader, to discuss the evolution of blockchain and how it is enabling seamless transactions and near real-time exchange of information, to evolve into an open, scalable, compliant and secure public transaction system. #betterfinance © 2020 Ernst & Young LLP.