LIFTS Accounting Model©

Limits and Foundations Towards Sustainability Accounting Model

This multi-capital accounting model has been designed to help companies become part of a sustainable socio-environmental system and ensure the sustainability of their activities. To this end, the model tracks their overall performance on two new capitals: social and environmental.

Methodologie LIFTS

Planetary limits and social foundations

Planetary limits indicate an environmental budget ceiling not to be exceeded. Social foundations, on the other hand, indicate a minimum social budget to achieve. The company then ensures that its activities do not exceed the limits of the earth system or degrade access to people's basic needs. 

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Extended corporate responsibility

Suppliers and products sold are choices for which the company is responsible. A breakdown on 3 perimeters is carried out: operations containing the company's activities, the supply chain including the activities of its suppliers and products & services including the externalities of the products or services sold by the company. Upstream of the accounting work, the prism of the chosen business model is used to determine areas of high potential impact on boundaries and foundations. Through accounting, the company has a global view of its model, enabling it to envisage the transformations necessary to ensure its sustainability while respecting its limits and foundations.

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Accounting based on verifiable physical streams

This model is where financial accounting meets environmental and socio-economic issues. Coupled with planetary limits and social foundations, it tracks multi-capital performance by having an accounting system that records activities in physical streams, alongside audited financial accounting. The budget is compared with the company's actual activities over a given period. The result, once contextualized, provides information on overall performance.

Pile de pièces de monnaie et feuilles vertes

Principle of non-compensation of capital

The performances calculated on each of the boundaries and foundations are not offset. Results are calculated and analyzed separately from each other.

The LIFTS Accounting Model© for multi-capital accounting has been tested in three SMEs. An initial tool produced in Access to test it, will be developed in software form with the help of an IT team. The methodology associated with this model has been published in its first version. Parts of this methodology, which is intended to be comprehensive on planetary limits, social foundations and economics, will be published in a version 2 of the methodology.