Sustainability reporting and financial reporting are converging fast. But the controller who treats them as the same thing could get burned. In this episode, Dr. Lee Hui Mien of Singtel and Jonathan Gregory of The Hershey Company offer their views on one urgent question: what does it actually mean to bring sustainability reporting under the finance umbrella, and where does that process break down? Chapters: 0:00 — Intro 2:30 — Dr. Lee Hui Mien on why sustainability data is fundamentally different 8:45 — Why restatement in sustainability is a feature, not a failure 13:20 — Scope 3 and why supply chain visibility can break down at tier two 19:10 — Jonathan Gregory, Global Controller at The Hershey Company 24:00 — AI governance and segregation of duties 29:45 — What the next five years demand from controllers Guests: Dr. Lee Hui Mien, Sustainability Leader, Singtel Jonathan Gregory, Global Controller, The Hershey Company Subscribe to The Pre-Read for more conversations at the intersection of finance, sustainability, audit, and risk.

Restatement Is a Dirty Word, Except When It Isn't

The Pre-Read

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**Podcast:** The Pre-Read

## Transcript

In Financial Accounting, Restatement is a word that people try to avoid. It's a dirty word. It's a dirty word, exactly. But in Sustainability Reporting, actually sometimes think about it, it's actually good to do restatement. Welcome to The Pre-Read. Just like the slides you get before a big meeting, The Pre-Read prepares you, CFOs and other executives for the next big thing.

It's the global podcast where finance, sustainability, audit and risk teams come together in the C-suite. If you're making decisions at scale or need to understand the leaders who are, you're in the right place. This is The Pre-Read, brought to you by Workiva. I'm Steve Soder, accounting enthusiast and Diet Coke aficionado. And I'm Alyssa Zucker, sustainability nerd and equal opportunist caffeine addict.

Today, we have two guests who represent two sides of the same problem. Later in the episode, we'll hear from Jonathan Gregory, the global controller at the Hershey Company. But first, Alyssa, you recently were in Singapore and sat down with Dr. Lee Hui-Mien, who has spent 25 years leading sustainability across conservation, retail and now Singtel, one of age's largest telco groups. So, Alyssa, what did you talk about?

Dr. Lee lays out the conceptual foundation, what sustainability data actually is and what it isn't, and why the finance playbook doesn't map directly to it. A couple of key takeaways from our talk. The first, precision is actually the wrong standard for sustainability data. Because a 42.6 versus a 43 ton emission figure doesn't change the material reality.

Sustainability audits are about spotting hotspots and preventing greenwashing, not about achieving decimal point level accuracy. Finance leaders absorbing ESG functions need to recalibrate what good data means. The second, and to Steve's earlier point, restatement in sustainability is a feature, not a failure. When financial teams see a restatement, they assume that something went wrong.

When sustainability teams restate it, it often means that they've improved their methodology or accessed higher quality data. That's progress, not a mistake. And the market should read it that way. And third, scope three visibility breaks down fast as you go deep into the supply chain. By tier two, many suppliers are SMEs with no infrastructure to provide emissions data. Dr. Lee's guidance?

Proxy where you must, engage where you can, and keep investing to get closer to real data over time. Well, Alyssa, if only a restatement meant progress. But in the meantime, let's get to hear your interview with Dr. Lee. Dr. Lee, you've led sustainability across conservation, retail, and now one of Asia's largest telco groups. Each one of those environments has a completely different relationship with data rigor.

And so what does that journey tell you about why the sustainability data quality problem is so challenging to solve? I think to begin with, right, when we talk ab...

Restatement Is a Dirty Word, Except When It Isn't

Transcript

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Restatement Is a Dirty Word, Except When It Isn't

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are findingedge in conversations you're not hearing.

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.