External Audit Associate
45% skill overlap
To add: Accounting fundamentals (double entry), Control mindset (what could go wrong), Revenue recognition
Your role
ESG Reporting Specialist
Full profileYour role
Also known as Sustainability manager · Sustainability analyst · Sustainability coordinator · Sustainability specialist
- L3 salary
- Not published yet
- Upcoming dated changes
- 5 changes ahead
What the role does
An ESG (environmental, social and governance) reporting specialist prepares an organisation's sustainability disclosures. In the EU this means reporting under the CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive) and the ESRS (European Sustainability Reporting Standards), often alongside ISSB (International Sustainability Standards Board) and GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) standards. The role runs the double materiality assessment, checks data such as Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, writes disclosures and supports assurance by auditors.
Read a day in the life
A day in the life
In the reporting season the day revolves around data. The specialist checks submissions from business units and subsidiaries in the reporting tool: energy use, emissions, headcount and diversity data, policies and targets. Gaps and outliers are queried with data owners, for example a jump in a site's electricity use or a missing supplier emissions estimate. Mid-morning the specialist recalculates emissions for a category of Scope 3 using a new emission factor, and documents the method and assumptions. After lunch there is a meeting with the external auditor on evidence for limited assurance: process descriptions, controls, sample documents. Later the specialist drafts a section of the sustainability statement, aligning wording with the financial statements and with the ESRS data points identified as material. Outside the season the work shifts to updating the double materiality assessment, improving controls and data systems, and tracking changes to the standards.
Levels
- L1 Starting out
- L2 Independent
- L3 Senior or specialist
- L4 Leads a team or an area
- L5 Leads the function
Full level descriptions and job titles
The EFO level names are the common scale; job titles differ between employers.
| Level | What the work looks like | Typical years | Typical job titles |
|---|---|---|---|
| L1 Starting out | Collects and checks sustainability data from business units, prepares calculations and supporting files, and learns CSRD, ESRS, Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol methods and the reporting process under supervision. | 0-2 | Banks: Analyst, Junior Analyst, Associate (asset servicing), Trainee, GraduateAsset servicers: Junior, Specialist (entry), Officer |
| L2 Independent | Owns a set of disclosures or topics end to end, coordinates data owners, documents methods and controls, answers auditor questions and trains contributors. | 2-5 | Banks: Analyst / Senior Analyst, AssociateAsset servicers: Specialist, Senior Specialist, Senior Officer |
| L3 Senior or specialist | Leads the double materiality assessment or complex topics such as Scope 3, interprets new standards, designs reporting controls and represents the function in system and assurance projects. | 5-9 | Banks: Senior Associate, AVP, Assistant ManagerAsset servicers: Senior Specialist, Expert, Team Lead (small team) |
| L4 Leads a team or an area | Leads the sustainability reporting team, owns the reporting calendar, control framework and assurance relationship, and is the escalation point for disclosure and data issues. | 8-14 | Banks: VP, Manager, Senior ManagerAsset servicers: Team Lead, Manager, Head of Section |
| L5 Leads the function | Accountable for sustainability reporting in a group or region, sets the reporting policy and governance with finance and the board, and signs off disclosures with senior management. | 12+ | Banks: Director, Executive Director, Managing Director, Head of functionAsset servicers: Head of Department, Director |
Skills
Where the skill weights come from
Each role lists its skills with a tier and a weight. The weights of one role add up to 100 percent.
Source: the EFO role catalogue, built from the ESCO classification and reviewed by the editors.
The percentage is the skill's share of the role; the bars are drawn relative to the anchor skill, which is shown full.
Critical
- Sustainability reporting (CSRD/ESRS, ISSB, GRI)Weight 14.3%Relevant to you
- Emissions accounting (Scope 1, 2, 3)Weight 9.5%Relevant to you
- ESG frameworks and rating criteriaWeight 9.5%Relevant to you
- International accounting standards (IFRS)Weight 9.5%Relevant to you
Important and supporting skills 18
Important
- Data cleaning and validationWeight 4.8%Relevant to you
- Advanced Microsoft ExcelWeight 4.8%Relevant to you
- Professional written communicationWeight 4.8%Relevant to you
- Internal controls and risk oversightWeight 4.8%Relevant to you
- Assessing the quality of sourcesWeight 4.8%Relevant to you
- Corporate governanceWeight 4.8%Relevant to you
- Attention to detailWeight 4.8%Relevant to you
- Communicating data to non-technical audiencesWeight 4.8%Relevant to you
Supporting
- Sustainable finance and green instrumentsWeight 2.4%Relevant to you
- Financial statement analysis and ratiosWeight 2.4%Relevant to you
- Project governance and reportingWeight 2.4%Relevant to you
- Stakeholder managementWeight 2.4%Relevant to you
- Querying data with SQLWeight 2.4%Relevant to you
- Visualisation tools (Power BI, Tableau)Weight 2.4%Relevant to you
- Sustainable finance regulation (SFDR, EU Taxonomy, ISSB)Weight 2.4%Relevant to you
Useful
- Audit methodologyWeight 0.8%Relevant to you
- Working to tight deadlinesWeight 0.8%Relevant to you
- Communications and media relationsWeight 0.8%Relevant to you
Processes
The work the role takes part in.
What each process covers
- Financial reporting and accountingMain
- Sustainable finance and ESGMain
- Audit and assuranceSupporting
- Operational risk and controlsSupporting
Where the role concentrates
How AI is changing the role
Data collection, emissions calculations, mapping to ESRS data points and first drafts of narrative disclosures are increasingly supported by software and generative AI.
Read the full assessment
Data collection, emissions calculations, mapping to ESRS data points and first drafts of narrative disclosures are increasingly supported by software and generative AI. The World Economic Forum Future of Jobs Report 2025 lists environmental stewardship and AI and big data among skills growing in importance. Value moves to judging materiality, choosing defensible methods and estimates, building controls that satisfy assurance providers and making sustainability and financial reporting consistent. Professional bodies such as ACCA describe sustainability reporting as a growing area for accountants, which favours specialists who combine reporting discipline with data skills.
Dated changes for this role
- CSRD scope narrowed by Omnibus I; second wave reports from financial year 2027Relevant to you
- FINMA circular on nature-related financial risks phases inRelevant to you
- Revised Solvency II rules apply from January 2027Relevant to you
- European Single Access Point opens to the publicRelevant to you
- Corporate sustainability due diligence postponed to July 2029Relevant to you
Worth knowing
Salary snapshot
Salary figures are not published yet
The L3 salary range for this role, with its sources, will appear here when the salaries section opens.
Certifications
- CFA ESG Investing Certificate
- GRI Professional Certification
Concepts to know
- CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive)
- Climate transition plan
- Double materiality
- ESRS (European Sustainability Reporting Standards)
- EU taxonomy
- Green asset ratio (GAR)
- Greenhouse gas emission scopes (Scope 1, 2, 3)
- Principal adverse impacts (PAI)
All 9 concepts
Neighbouring roles
Roles that need many of the same skills, by weighted skill overlap, with the skills you would need to add.
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Sustainable Finance Analyst
40% skill overlap
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Accounting Advisory Associate
38% skill overlap
To add: Accounting fundamentals (double entry), Revenue recognition, Group consolidation
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Do this job? Suggest a correction
Sources
CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive)The CSRD is the EU directive, (EU) 2022/2464, that requires large companies to report sustainability information in their management report under the ESRS, based on double materiality, in a digital format and with external assurance. The 2026 Omnibus simplification narrowed its scope to the largest companies.
ESRS (European Sustainability Reporting Standards)The ESRS are the mandatory sustainability reporting standards under the CSRD, adopted as Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2772. The first set has two cross-cutting and ten topical standards on environment, social and governance matters, and the Commission is simplifying them after the Omnibus package.
Double materialityDouble materiality is the CSRD principle that a sustainability matter must be reported if it is material from either angle: the company's impacts on people and the environment (impact materiality) or the matter's effects on the company's finances (financial materiality).
Generative AIGenerative AI is a family of AI models that produce new content (text, code, images, audio) in response to a prompt, by learning patterns from very large datasets. In finance it is used for drafting, summarising documents, coding help and customer service assistants.
ACCAACCA is the professional accountancy qualification of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, recognised across many countries. It combines up to 13 exams in three levels, an ethics module and three years of relevant practical experience.