Incorporating the UN SDGs into the Introductory Finance Course

Incorporating the UN SDGs into the Introductory Finance Course Frank M. Werner and James A.F. Stoner The 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals, the Pope said, “were a great step forward for global dialogue, marking a vitally “new and universal solidarity”. But he noted, “for too long, the conventional idea of development has been almost entirely limited to economic growth.” Vatican News, 8 March 2019 The goal of for-profit businesses is in the midst of a transformation from primarily (often exclusively) serving their shareholders to serving multiple elements of society Although this transformation has made some progress in entering many business disciplines, it has arrived late to finance. This delay is in part due to the many financial management professors and managers who still consider Shareholder Wealth Maximization (SWM) the overarching goal of the firm. Virtually all financial management textbooks, while perhaps nodding to serving other stakeholders, still preach SWM, so even many of our most current graduates have been taught to believe in SWM as the goal of for-profit businesses. The implication for us as educators is that there is an urgent need to teach our students how finance, and particularly financial goals, are changing to be consistent with the need for a sustainable world so that our students understand the transformation they are embedded in. And, to do this, our courses and our textbooks must change. One powerful way to do this is to incorporate the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into the courses and textbooks our students are reading and learning from. The authors of this paper have been writing financial management textbooks for over 30 years. In 2019, we began to overhaul our textbooks to integrate sustainability with financial management. Then, in 2020 we published our new undergraduate textbook, Financial Managing for a Sustainable World, and in 2024 we published our new graduate textbook, Financial Managing for a Sustainable World—Graduate Edition. Chapter 1 of both books contains a discussion of the goal of the for-profit company, asserting that the role of finance is not SWM but rather is to support the organization’s efforts to benefit society. Subsequent chapters present the traditional financial tools of maintaining solvency, liquidity, financial resilience, relationships with financial institutions; understanding the economic environment; and analyzing the financial implications of proposed courses of action. While these tools remain substantially unchanged, how some of them are used does change to adjust to 21st Century financial and sustainability realities. In each of the next seventeen chapters, the books then introduce how awareness of the SDGs is encouraging and redirecting for-profit companies’ contributions to society by looking at one of the SDGs in example boxes titled “Value from Values.” Each Value from Values story identifies a major corporation—household names students will recognize—and how it is addressing one of the SDGs. Figure 1 is the Value from Values box that appears in Chapter 2 of both books addressing the first of the SDGs: No Poverty. Table 1 lists the companies profiled in the Value from Value boxes throughout the textbooks. (Note: Figure 1 did not copy here. Please see the pdf in the "Presentation materials" section below) Figure 1: Value from Values box for SDG 1 – No Poverty   SDG Company 1 No Poverty Visa 2 Zero Hunger General Mills 3 Good Health and Well-Being CVS Health 4 Quality Education Starbucks 5 Gender Equality L’Oreal 6 Clean Water and Sanitation Gap 7 Affordable and Clean Energy Pepsico 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth Johnson & Johnson 9 Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure Qualcomm 10 Reduced Inequalities Microsoft 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities Dow Chemical 12 Responsible Consumption and Production Nike 13 Climate Action Proctor & Gamble 14 Life Below Water Walmart 15 Life on Land Nestlé 16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions General Electric 17 Partnerships for the Goals Mastercard Table 1: List of Companies profiled in the Value from Values boxes