Introductory description

Changing course towards a more sustainable path of social and economic development requires new forms of gathering and reporting information from government and private enterprises. This module will explore instances of of social, environmental, and sustainability accounting that have been responding to this challenge. It will also discuss how instances of accounting that fall short of addressing social and environmental issues have been complicit in fostering unsustainable forms of socio-economic development.
Students will look at current attempts at formulating environmentally enlightened reporting framework, consider accounting's historical role in colonial and postcolonial accountability, and debate the opportunities as well as the pitfalls of green finance.

Module web page

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

The history of social and environmental accounting:

• Origins of social and environmental reporting.
• The rise of sustainability discourses and policies.
• Social and environmental accounting projects in the accounting profession.
  Reporting frameworks:
• Global Reporting Initiative.
• Integrated Reporting, e.g., IIRC and SASB.
  Accounting for sustainability and the use of natural resources:
• Accounting according to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
• Environmental impact assessment.
• Carbon and water accounting.
  Accountability in global value chains:
• Accounting for social and environmental issues along value chains.
• Accounting for certification schemes (fair trade and others).
  Postcolonial accountability:
• Accounting’s role in the colonial degradation of communities and ecologies.
• Accounting and indigenous knowledges.
• Accounting’s role in contemporary socio-environmental conflicts.
  Contemporary challenges of social and ecological accounting:
• Limits of current sustainability reporting and management accounting practices.
• Criticisms of blended forms of accounting and “green finance”.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Understand the motivations, histories, and current practices of social and environmental accounting within the context of global sustainable development.
• Understand current issues of social and environmental reporting and how accounting and information systems contribute to the ability of organisations to manage their impact on communities and the environment.
• Understand the emancipatory potential of stakeholder-orientated accounting and accountability practices.
• Appreciate how accounting practices moderate organisations' impact on social and natural environments.
• Develop personal ideas, arguments and opinions in relation to important issues in social and environmental accounting and to ecological and postcolonial accountability.

Indicative reading list

In addition to academic readings the module will make use of practitioner literature from inter-governmental and nongovernmental organisations (e.g., UN, GRI) and the accounting professions (e.g., ICAEW, ACCA).
Textbooks
Bebbington J., Larrinaga C., O'Dwyer B., & Thomson I. (eds.) (2021). Routledge Handbook of Environmental Accounting. London: Routledge.
Bebbington, J., Unerman J., & O’Dwyer B. (eds.) (2014). Sustaintability Accounting and Accountability. 2nd edition. London: Routledge.
Journal articles
Alawattage C., & Fernando S. (2017). Postcoloniality in corporate social and environmental accountability. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 60, 1-20.
Anisette M. (2000). Imperialism and the professions: the education and certification of accountants in Trinidad and Tobago. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 25, 631-659.
Atkins J., Atkins B. C., Thomson I., & Maroun W. (2015). ‘Good’ news from nowhere: imagining utopian sustainable accounting. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 28(5), 651–670.
Ball A. (2004). A sustainability accounting project for the UK local government sector? Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 15(8), 1009–1035.
Brown J., Dillard J., & Hopper T. (2015). Accounting, accountants and accountability regimes in pluralistic societies. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 28(5), 626–650.
Cho C. H., Laine M., Roberts R. W., & Rodrigue M. (2015). Organized hypocrisy, organizational façades, and sustainability reporting. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 40, 78–94.
Darnall N., Seol I., & Sarkis J. (2009). Perceived stakeholder influences and organizations’ use of environmental audits. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 34(2), 170–187.
Etzion D & Ferraro F. (2010). The Role of Analogy in the Institutionalization of Sustainability Reporting. Organization Science, 21(5), 1092–1107.
Gray R. (2010). Is accounting for sustainability actually accounting for sustainability…and how would we know? An exploration of narratives of organisations and the planet. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 35(1), 47–62.
Herbohn K. (2005). A full cost environmental accounting experiment. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 30(6), 519–536.
Irvine, H., & Moerman, L. (2017). Gambling with the public sphere: Accounting’s contribution to debate on social issues. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 48, 35–52.
Jones M. J., & Solomon J. F. (2013). Problematising accounting for biodiversity. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 26(5), 668–687.
Joseph G. (2012). Ambiguous but tethered: An accounting basis for sustainability reporting. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 23(2), 93–106.
Lohmann L. (2009). Toward a different debate in environmental accounting: The cases of carbon and cost–benefit. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 34(3-4), 499–534.
Michelon G., Pilonato S., & Ricceri F. (2015). CSR reporting practices and the quality of disclosure: An empirical analysis. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 33, 59–78.
Neu D. (2000). “Presents” for the “Indians”: Land, Colonialism and Accounting in Canada. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 25, 163-184.
Nicholls A. (2009). ‘We do good things, don’t we?’: ‘Blended Value Accounting’ in social entrepreneurship. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 34(6-7), 755–769.
Roberts R. W., & Wallace D. M. (2015). Sustaining diversity in social and environmental accounting research. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 32, 78–87.
Rowbottom N., & Locke J. (2016). The emergence of IR. Accounting and Business Research, 46(1), 83–115.
Sajay, S., & Manassian A. (2011). The rise and coming fall of international accounting research. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 22(6), 608-627.
Samiolo R. (2012). Commensuration and styles of reasoning: Venice, cost–benefit, and the defence of place. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 37(6), 382–402.
Spence C. (2007). Social and environmental reporting and hegemonic discourse. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 20(6), 855–882.
Thomson I., Grubnic S., & Georgakopoulos G. (2014). Exploring accounting-sustainability hybridisation in the UK public sector. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 39(6), 453–476.
Vinnari E. & Laine M. (2017). The moral mechanism of counter accounts: The case of industrial animal production. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 57, 1–17.

Interdisciplinary

This module draws on interdisciplinary scholarship on accounting and accountability from across the social sciences. It presents an opportunity for students with different disciplinary backgrounds from within the business school and across the university to engage in interdisciplinary debate and sensemaking about our challenges to manage and govern in a more sustainable manner.

Subject specific skills

By the end of the module the student should be able to:

• Sense the practical and ethical importance of social and environmental accounting practices both in reporting and managing organisational performance and its impact on social and natural environments.
• Use a variety of approaches to assess the environmental impact of organisational activities and organisational
  accounting and information system practices.
• Being able to contribute to the further development of organisational reporting and management accounting practices as they relate to social and environmental concerns.

Transferable skills

By the end of the module, the student should be able to:

• Critically evaluate ideas, frameworks, and practices relating to the ecological accountability of business and government.
• Demonstrate analytical and debating skills in oral communication.
• Appreciate the socio-political ramifications of accounting practice.