Research on the Early Warning Function and Implementation Path for Sustainability Accounting in Corporate Governance

As global sustainable development progresses, businesses face increasing challenges in the areas of environmental, social, and governance (ESG). Against this backdrop, sustainability accounting, through the systematic integration of non-financial information, provides crucial support for companies to establish forward-looking risk early warning mechanisms. This article focuses on the risk identification, assessment, and early warning functions of this mechanism within the corporate governance framework. Research shows that by quantifying ESG performance, identifying key influencing factors, tracking long-term trends, and analyzing them in conjunction with financial data, sustainability accounting can provide early signals of a variety of potential risks, such as pressure to comply with environmental regulations, a lack of social responsibility in the supply chain, damaged corporate reputation, and declining sustainable competitiveness. However, the mechanism remains plagued by a number of bottlenecks in its practical application, including a lack of unified data standards, insufficient management attention, an inadequate audit mechanism, and weak governance embedding. To address these issues, this article proposes a systematic, phased approach: first, defining material issues, establishing unified indicators, and strengthening the integration of internal and external information; then, incorporating sustainability risks into strategic decision-making and establishing independent verification procedures; and ultimately, achieving a deep integration of sustainability performance and corporate value creation. Comprehensively integrating sustainability accounting into corporate governance structures is not only a key measure to enhance organizational resilience and long-term value but also provides a theoretical basis and practical reference for relevant policy formulation and management practices.