Forico · Forestry, Australia
Accounts that pass independent assurance
Natural capital reports in balance-sheet and profit-and-loss form, with limited assurance from KPMG.
Multi-capital accounting
Multi-capital accounting keeps books on what an organisation depends on and affects, not only its money. It turns impact from a figure reported once a year into accounts that can be actively managed.
What it is
From money on the books to every capital.
Financial accounting keeps books for one capital: money. Multi-capital accounting applies the same discipline to the others an organisation chooses to account for, such as natural, human and social capital. Outcomes like a tonne of carbon, a workplace injury or a year of schooling are valued under published rules and recorded in double-entryEvery value is recorded twice, once as where it came from and once as where it went, so the books check themselves. books, with every figure traceable to its source.
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Actively managed
The books link to your goals, so progress can be managed proactively rather than only reported.
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Comparable and checkable
Shared rules and a trail to every source let figures be compared, added up and independently assured.
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Trade-offs in plain view
Each capital keeps its own account, so a gain in one never hides a loss in another.
The field
From published rules to books that are kept.
Published methodologies now value nearly 100,000 outcomes, and auditors have a global standard for checking sustainability figures. Between the organisations that set the rules and those that check and use the numbers sits the work all of them depend on, and that few do: keeping the books. That is Sedoha’s role.
Annotated guide
Multi-Capital Accounting: An overview of the field
An annotated guide to the organisations shaping the emerging field of multi-capital accounting, with links to their own publications.
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Set the rules
Valuation standards say what outcomes are worth. Disclosure standards say what to report. Sedoha’s open standard builds on frameworks now held by the IFRS Foundation and the Capitals Coalition.
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Keep the books Sedoha
Record an organisation’s impact every period, to the published rules, and use the books to improve it.
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Check and use the numbers
Auditors assure the figures. Investors, funders, boards and regulators decide with them.
Already in practice
Kering · Luxury goods, France
The same account, kept for a decade
A group environmental profit and loss account published every year since 2015, with its method made public.
Yorkshire Water · Utility, UK
All six capitals, not only nature
Accounts across all six capitals for a regulated utility, with limited assurance from DNV.
SK Group · Conglomerate, South Korea
Figures that shape decisions
Double bottom line accounting whose results set half of executive performance targets.
Methodology
From records to books you can rely on.
Most published accounts are still built by hand, once a year. Sedoha keeps them as running books, to the discipline of financial accounting, and uses them to learn which strategies move the numbers.
One chart of accounts
Every capital you choose to account for is kept like money, in books that balance.
How: the five account types of financial accounting, assets, liabilities, equity, revenue and expenses, for each capital, in double-entry books.
Example Company
Trial balance by capital
At 31 December 2025 · $ millions
| Capital | Assets | Liabilities | Equity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Natural capital | 2.6 | 0.5 | 2.1 |
| Human capital | 13.9 | 0.3 | 13.6 |
| Social capital | 1.6 | 0.2 | 1.4 |
| Financial capital | 6.0 | 1.8 | 4.2 |
Each capital balances on its own: assets less liabilities equal equity. Revenue and expenses for the year close to equity. Financial equity is the organisation's own; in every other capital, equity is the position the organisation holds for that capital's owners. Capitals shown are the ones this organisation chose to account for.
Balanced for every capital.
5
Illustrative example.
Valued under published rules
Every figure opens to the entries, prices and entities behind it, and adds up across a group without counting anything twice.
How: outcomes are valued with published methodologies, one value wherever they happen. Without one, an outcome is described and marked pending.
Example Company
Human capital: from group statement to source
Year ended 31 December 2025 · $ millions
| Statement | Group human capital gains | 0.67 |
|---|---|---|
| Entity | Example CompanyOwn operations | 0.55 |
| Programme | Apprenticeships | 0.33 |
| Entry | Wage gains: 60 apprentices × $5,480 | 0.33 |
| Price | $5,480 a year: global value, published methodology | |
| Programme | Workplace safetyInjuries avoided, published methodology | 0.22 |
| Programme | Supplier trainingSkills gained, no published price yet | Pending |
| Entity | Joint venture, 40% shareBooked once on the venture’s books, carried here at 40% | 0.12 |
One result is counted once across the group. Nothing is priced without a published methodology.
12
Illustrative example.
Ready for an auditor
Every figure shows where it came from and how firmly it is evidenced, so an auditor can test it.
How: each figure traces to its source and can be recomputed, judgments are documented and closed periods are locked. Audit-ready, never described as audited.
Example Company
Evidence register: human capital
Year ended 31 December 2025
| Figure | Source | Evidence | Value from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wage gains0.33 | Payroll records | Attested | Published |
| Injuries avoided0.22 | Safety log | Asserted | Published |
| Joint venture share0.12 | Venture’s accounts | Audited | Published |
| Skills gainedPending | Training records | Asserted | Not yet |
Asserted: the organisation says so. Attested: checked by an independent party. Audited: an auditor’s opinion stands behind it. Every figure can be traced to its source and recomputed.
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Illustrative example.
Continuous improvement
Every close shows which strategies are working, and what to try next.
How: your goals and strategies are linked to the accounts, and Sedoha’s continuous-improvement engine learns from each result to recommend next steps.
Example Company
Strategy review: human capital
Quarter ended 30 September 2026
| Strategy | Against expected | Confidence |
|---|---|---|
| Paid mentor hoursRetention +6 pts | In range | ●●●○ |
| Daily crew safety briefingsInjuries −21% | In range | ●●○○ |
| Supplier trainingToo early to read | — | ●○○○ |
Confidence rises or falls with each new result, here and anonymously across Sedoha’s work.
Recommendation: extend paid mentor hours to the two sites with the highest turnover.
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Illustrative example.
Kept to an open standard.
Every set of books Sedoha keeps follows A Working Standard for Impact Accounting, maintained by Sedoha while the field’s universal standards take shape. It builds on published methodologies rather than inventing its own values.
Monetise or narrate
An outcome is priced only under a published methodology. Otherwise it is described and marked pending.
Activity is never impact
Money spent and training delivered are reported as activity. Value is booked only for outcomes.
Counted once, shared by financing share
A result reported by several organisations in a chain is shared between them in proportion to the capital each supplied, so impact adds up without inflating.
Valued globally, not locally
One value for an outcome, wherever it happens.
Provenance on every figure
Each value shows its published source, or why it departs from one.
The full standard
Each rule, the sources behind it, and how firmly each area is settled.
Request the Working Standard
Let’s talk about managing your impact.
Tell us what you have to report on and who reads it. You’ll hear whether your figures are ready for the books and what the first steps would look like.
The easiest first step: Start a conversation. Bring the reports you have to produce; there is nothing else to prepare.
Or email inquiries@sedoha.com.