Good financial performance always goes hand in hand with good governance and long-term thinking, believes Helen Brand, CEO of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, or ACCA, the global body of professional accountants. In an interview with BT, he talks about the need for financial planning by small businesses and start-ups and ACCA's footprint in India. Edited episodes:

Accountancy remains a very popular choice among students in India. What kind of foothold does ACCA have in the country?

ACCA is a global qualification based in London. It has been based on international standards since 1996, so it is a complementary proposition. We focus heavily on the corporate, financial services and public sector rather than regulated accountant backgrounds. India has been ACCA's fastest growing market for several years now, driven by economic development and demand, especially from employers who truly value the skill sets our members and prospective members bring. We currently have around 3,000 members in India and around 60,000 prospective members, people of various levels of education.

In India, there is a growing shortage of qualified auditing and accounting professionals...

Absolutely. Indeed, there is a global shortage of qualified professionals, but especially in an economy like India where there is growth, and this growth must be sustainable. Employers are looking for the kind of expertise that comes from professional accountants. I believe that all the institutions that provide such a degree are asking for it at the moment.

How can strong corporate governance affect the financial profitability and sustainability of companies?

I don't think you can have one thing without the other. Good financial performance always goes hand in hand with good governance and long-term thinking. It is increasingly important to integrate this into what a company's board discusses. I think the false choice that is sometimes put in front of businesses is that they can be profitable or that they can do the right thing. Long-term profits will depend on the reputation of the business and the reputational risk of bad governance is that the business will cease to exist and the brand will be completely weakened. I think a short-term view that only focuses on profits, with those principles of good governance around it, means you won't have a business in the longer term.

What happens to the corporate governance of startups, as many of them are working to make a profit or expand their user base?

A small business or startup's best friend is a financial professional or professional accountant, as these businesses may not have the bandwidth to use this skill in their businesses. Small businesses have high failure rates, and this is often related to a lack of financial planning. Things that seem boring, like cash flow, actually matter a lot.

ESG or Environment, Society and Governance is one of the main topics that is being raised now, and companies are preparing for it. Your view?

In my opinion, a lot of attention has been paid to En, especially regarding the climate, and that is quite right. You only have to look out the window of everyone in the world to know that something has to happen. But I think Sa has probably been underrated. And so, for example, in ACCA, we are looking at sustainability. We produced a report this year on the living wage and the role the finance function can play in helping to drive living wage thinking in organisations. I don't think it's something we would have talked about maybe 10-15 years ago, but it's really important in terms of the positive difference we can make. Everyone talks about just transition, and we all talk about well-being, which is part of sustainability, but of course, there's also physical well-being, mental well-being, financial well-being, and those three things come together, and companies can do it. They play a very important role in the fairness and justice of their behavior, which then helps families and communities.