Last year digital learning expert and former accountant Brian Cahill was chatting to friends working in finance about the EU’s new Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). As the conversation progressed it became clear that the legislation was complex and that companies might need help to interpret and implement it.
This set his mind whirring and having looked for and not found any provider of dedicated to CSRD training, he teamed up with former colleague Caroline Usher to provide it through the recently launched CSRD Institute.
“From what I could see there was a huge knowledge gap in the corporate world in terms of familiarity with the scope of the CSRD and also training to ensure that companies can handle the requirements of the directive,” says Cahill. “As the directive is going to affect an enormous number of companies internationally, this knowledge gap struck me as a significant market opportunity and, given our backgrounds in accounting, corporate finance and e-learning, we felt we were well-placed to bridge it.
“There’s a lot to get to grips with this directive as it covers multiple areas including the environment, corporate and social governance, the workforce, the value chain and the impact of businesses on the community,” adds Cahill. “The aim of our courses is to simplify the directive and provide participants with a comprehensive understanding of the reporting regulations to ensure that the organisations they work for achieve CSRD compliance.”
Cahill, who has a master’s in technology and learning, has spent the past 10 years developing and running e-learning businesses in areas such as accounting and finance, healthcare, and medical device regulation. Usher, who has a master’s in international business, previously worked in private banking, digital marketing and education.
We had assumed that the majority of our clients would be European. However, we’ve had a surprising number of overseas customers in the mix
The founders worked flat out for three months to build the platform and develop the course materials. All courses are online and the core course, which teaches CSRD fundamentals, is free to use and self-paced. In addition to prerecorded tutorials, the platform has a live community area where participants can interact with course tutors and other learners.
Typical course participants would include sustainability professionals, corporate executives responsible for reporting and sustainability initiatives, accountants, auditors and compliance officers.
“The platform’s reach is global because the directive will affect overseas companies with operations within the EU,” says Cahill. “We had assumed that the majority of our clients would be European. However, we’ve had a surprising number of overseas customers in the mix including participants in the US, Japan, India and South Africa.
“We’ve had over 20,000 registrations for the free fundamentals course, including attendees from Unilever, Ikea and EY. Over 12,000 have already finished the course and been certified.”
The institute is an accredited provider of CPD (continuing professional development) courses, which means participants can earn CPD credits for attending. The courses are offered at three levels: fundamentals, advanced and professional, and the charging model is a straight course fee. This provides access to the material for a year. There will also be a membership option that offers indefinite access and added value events.
“Apart from complying with the new rules, the directive offers companies the opportunity to establish a sustainability culture, to connect team performance with sustainability goals and outcomes and to use CSRD reporting to competitive advantage,” says Cahill.
As the founders had the skills to do most of the required development work themselves, they were able to start their business on a shoestring budget of €20,000, which includes a feasibility grant from Fingal local enterprise office.
“We launched the free core course in March followed by two paid courses in June and July and we were cash-flow positive by July and profitable by August,” says Cahill who adds that the next step will be to build out the team with additional e-learning and sustainability specialists.
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