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Water is critical to all life on Earth and a crucial business resource which evidence suggests is often mismanaged. Corporate water accounting is an emerging practice designed to help corporations address water issues. Indirect water management in supply chains is important, but hitherto little consideration has been given to supply chain water accounting. This paper aims to synthesise available literature and infer how future research can further knowledge and take-up in practice.

An integrative literature review is used to synthesise the current state of knowledge and the prospects for academic research looking to further practice in supply chain water accounting.

Literature reveals two contrasting issues in need of further research, first, between normative and practical approaches to supply chain water accounting and, second, the focus on external reporting versus management.

One main limitation is recognised. Technical aspects of supply chain water accounting tools, for example, water footprints and material flow cost accounting are not considered as focus is on the take-up of corporate supply chain water accounting in practice.

This study sets out an agenda for the future of supply chain water accounting which can be used to guide research and stimulate extension in practice and take-up of important indirect considerations in corporate water accounting in supply chains.

The integrative literature review leads to the identification of future research opportunities and a set of research questions relating to useful information, links with internal decision-making and external collaboration, application in companies of different sizes and to furthering the take-up of corporate water accounting practice in the increasingly important collaborative supply chain relationships which span the globe.

The purpose of this study is to examine the disruptive effects of COVID-19 on supply chains and question the role of accounting information in managing these supply chains in the face of such disruptive effects.

The study first explains the effects of COVID-19 on the supply chains of business entities. It then explains the role of accounting information in supply chain management, questions accounting information's ability to play such a role, and makes recommendations for better accounting disclosures and accounting research for supply chains of firms. To illustrate the salient points, a case study of Fisher and Paykel Healthcare is conducted. It identifies the risks and uncertainties of supply chains exposed by COVID-19 disruptions to businesses.

COVID-19 has affected Fisher and Paykel Healthcare from both the supply-side (upstream) and demand-side (downstream) perspectives. On the supply side, it has disrupted the supply of raw materials used in the manufacture of respiratory devices and the costs of importing such materials. On the demand side, it has disrupted market logistics and customer demand. This has subsequently affected production. Such disruptions can be overcome through the dissemination of appropriate accounting information for the different stages of the supply chain to the managers. Such accounting information can also be useful to external stakeholders for minimizing their risks.

The study attempts to create an awareness of the supply chain uncertainties faced by managers and stakeholders arising from exogenous shocks, such as a pandemic, and how these uncertainties can be mitigated by aligning accounting information flows with the supply chain activity flows. The observations made in this paper are at a conceptual level and, therefore, can be applied to any industry.

Through its impact on both demand and supply, the outbreak of novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has profoundly disrupted supply chains throughout the world. The purpose of this paper is to explore the underlying drivers of the supply chain vulnerability exposed by COVID-19 and considers potential future directions for global supply.

This paper adopts a case study approach, reviewing the automotive manufacturing sector in Australia to illustrate how neoliberal globalisation policy settings have shifted large tracts of manufacturing from the global north to the global south.

The authors demonstrate the way that neoliberal globalisation policies, facilitated by certain accounting rhetorics and technologies, have consolidated manufacturing in China and Southeast Asia in ways that embed vulnerabilities in global supply chains. The authors present three scenarios for post-COVID-19 supply chains and the accounting techniques likely to garner stronger attention as a result of the pandemic.

The paper illustrates how certain accounting rhetorics and technologies facilitate neoliberal globalisation, embedding supply chain vulnerability that has been exposed by COVID-19. It also suggests how supply chain accounting may develop more robust supply chains in a post-COVID-19 world and sets out an agenda for future research in this area.

A number of practical supply chain accounting and planning technologies are suggested to facilitate more robust supply chains.

This paper draws attention to the neoliberal globalisation policies that have shaped global supply chains as well as how COVID-19, in concert with other geopolitical trajectories, may represent a watershed moment for global supply chains.

Know your customer (KYC), accounting standards, issuance, clearing, and trade settlement became the major barrier to implement accounting, accountability and assurance process in supply chain finance (SCF). Blockchain technology features have the potential to solve accounting problems. This research focuses on exploring how blockchain technology provides solutions to overcome the barriers of accounting process in SCF. The benefits, opportunities, costs and risks related to blockchain adoption are also explored.

Multi-case study and qualitative methods are used with a framework based on blockchain role to overcome the accounting process barriers. Ten blockchain projects in SCF and 29 interviews of participants as a unit of analysis are considered.

The findings indicate that blockchain technology offers solutions to solve accounting, accountability and assurance problems in SCF. Validity, verification, smart contracts, automation and enduring data on trade transactions potentially solve those barriers. However, it is also necessary to consider costs such as implementation, technology, education and integration costs. Then there are possible risks such as regulatory compliance, operational, code development and scalability risk. This finding reflects the current status of blockchain technology roles in SCF.

This study unveils blockchain's SCF accounting potential, emphasizing multi-case method limitations and future research prospects. Diverse contexts challenge findings' applicability, warranting cross-industry studies for deeper insights. Addressing selection bias and integrating quantitative measures can enhance understanding of blockchain's accounting impact.

Accounting professionals can get an idea of the future direction and impact of blockchain technology on accounting, accountability and assurance processes.

This study provides initial findings on the potential, costs and risks of blockchain that is beneficial for parties involved in SCF, especially for banks and insurance underwriters. In addition, the findings also provide direction for the contribution of blockchain technology to accounting theory in the future.

The purpose of this paper is to summarize and analyze what is known regarding activity-based costing (ABC) applications in the context of supply chain management (SCM). The authors present a reference framework for practical implications and areas for future research in intra-firm and inter-organizational environments.

The findings underlie a systematic review methodology. Research gaps and guidance for further publications are derived from the reference framework based on ABC and SCM literature.

The review illustrates four main areas for further research: determination of the role of management accounting in SCM (including supply chain finance), integration of time-driven ABC with radio frequency identification (RFID) technology and automatic data collection, analysis of inter-organizational management tools in supply chains in multiple negotiation rounds, and standardization of cost accounting data in supply chains.

The review provides practitioners with three main recommendations: ABC applications require a solid data basis, organizational readiness, commitment from senior management, and an ABC management philosophy; open book accounting for inter-organizational cost information-sharing purposes needs institutional arrangements and economic incentive systems; and sharing costs and benefits among supply chain members requires a change of managers’ mind-set.

This paper reveals practical implications and provides new directions for research based on the reference framework. The paper contributes to the interdisciplinary topic between SCM and management accounting by providing a structured overview of 87 peer-reviewed articles from 1992 to 2016.

Food supply chains are facing significant changes and challenges coming from the need to adopt inclusive business practices and foster sustainable development. The current research aims to provide insights related to the inclusiveness of sustainable business practices of a dairy production co-operative where the smallholders are engaging with a traditional business mind-set. The purpose of the research is to deliver insights about the linkages between accounting and business practices in the adoption of an inclusive business model.

This research is based on the qualitative case study of a medium-sized production cooperative company operating in the dairy industry supply chain.

This study answers the call for research on accounting and control systems in the food sector, by exploring how management and control system is practised within contemporary supply chains. The research aims to analyse the contextual insights of managerial and organizational practices that facilitate inter-organizational relationships and coordination among actors that engage along the supply chain.

The main limitation relates to the conditions of the time available and the limited number of interviews. Even if key actors were interviewed, a larger sample would have been more beneficial to the research. However, the lack of proper results for accounting tools and software access caused some loss to the research.

This paper emphasizes the effects of the “inclusiveness” of the sustainable business models between suppliers and leading companies by enhancing the sustainable business development within the supply chain, as part of a wider business model in the food sector from an inter-organizational perspective.

In this study, the authors examine artificial knowledge as a fundamental stream of knowledge management for sustainable and resilient business models in supply chain management (SCM). The study aims to provide a comprehensive overview of artificial knowledge and digitalization as key enablers of the improvement of SCM accountability and sustainable performance towards the UN 2030 Agenda.

Using the SCOPUS database and Google Scholar, the authors analyzed 135 English-language publications from 1990 to 2022 to chart the pattern of knowledge production and dissemination in the literature. The data were collected, reviewed and peer-reviewed before conducting bibliometric analysis and a systematic literature review to support future research agenda.

The results highlight that artificial knowledge and digitalization are linked to the UN 2030 Agenda. The analysis further identifies the main issues in achieving sustainable and resilient SCM business models. Based on the results, the authors develop a conceptual framework for artificial knowledge and digitalization in SCM to increase accountability and sustainable performance, especially in times of sudden crises when business resilience is imperative.

The study results add to the extant literature by examining artificial knowledge and digitalization from the resilience theory perspective. The authors suggest that different strategic perspectives significantly promote resilience for SCM digitization and sustainable development. Notably, fostering diverse peer exchange relationships can help stimulate peer knowledge and act as a palliative mechanism that builds digital knowledge to strengthen and drive future possibilities.

This research offers valuable guidance to supply chain practitioners, managers and policymakers in re-thinking, re-formulating and re-shaping organizational processes to meet the UN 2030 Agenda, mainly by introducing artificial knowledge in digital transformation training and education programs. In doing so, firms should focus not simply on digital transformation but also on cultural transformation to enhance SCM accountability and sustainable performance in resilient business models.

This study is, to the authors' best knowledge, among the first to conceptualize artificial knowledge and digitalization issues in SCM. It further integrates resilience theory with institutional theory, legitimacy theory and stakeholder theory as the theoretical foundations of artificial knowledge in SCM, based on firms' responsibility to fulfill the sustainable development goals under the UN's 2030 Agenda.

The purpose of this paper is to first, determine the implications of management control system (MCS) information characteristics for controlling the COVID-19 pandemic through four performance indicators (quality, speed of delivery, availability and cost-effectiveness) of the public health supply chain and second, the mediating effect of four dimensions (broad scope, timeliness, integration and aggregation) of the MCS on external integration, internal integration, customer integration and operational performance of public health institutions in Ghana.

Using covariance-based structural equations modelling and based on contingency theory, a hypothesized model was developed and tested. The sample involves a survey of 214 public health institutions in Ghana.

Both external and internal integration were found to have a significant positive effect on MCS information and, in turn, on the supply chain operational performance of public health institutions. Also, customer integration has a significant positive impact on the four dimensions with a corresponding impact on supply chain operational performance.

The paper provides practitioners and policymakers with the usefulness of the contingency paradigm in enhancing the supply chain network of public health institutions during epidemics, hence, the need to adopt and develop the contingency approach in designing MCS within the public health sector. Effective public health management through a collaborative process between stakeholders (suppliers, customers and personnel) will mitigate stockouts of medical supplies and systematic disruptions in the public health supply chain.

The MCSs – supply chain integration interaction on organizational performance is one of the areas that has received very little attention in the literature particularly in service-oriented organizations. In this regard, this paper represents one of the few studies in Africa that examines performance implications of MCS – supply chain nexus with respect to public health emergencies service-orientec organizations. The paper contributes to the literature by providing invaluable insights into the usefulness of the MCS in enhancing the supply chain performance of public health emergencies.

This paper investigates how organisations are responding to mandatory modern slavery disclosure legislation. Experimentalist governance suggests that organisations faced with disclosure requirements such as those contained in the UK Modern Slavery Act 2015 will compete with one another, and in doing so, improve compliance. The authors seek to understand whether this is the case.

This study is set in the UK public sector. The authors conduct interviews with over 25% of UK universities that are within the scope of the UK Modern Slavery Act 2015 and examine their reporting and disclosure under that legislation.

The authors find that, contrary to the logic of experimentalist governance, universities' disclosures as reflected in their modern slavery statements are persistently poor on detail, lack variation and have led to little meaningful action to tackle modern slavery. They show that this is due to a herding effect that results in universities responding as a sector rather than independently; a built-in incapacity to effectively manage supply chains; and insufficient attention to the issue at the board level. The authors also identity important boundary conditions of experimentalist governance.

The generalisability of the authors’ findings is restricted to the public sector.

In contexts where disclosure under the UK Modern Slavery Act 2015 is not a core offering of the sector, and where competition is limited, there is little incentive to engage in a “race to the top” in terms of disclosure. As such, pro-forma compliance prevails and the effectiveness of disclosure as a tool to drive change in supply chains to safeguard workers is relatively ineffective. Instead, organisations must develop better knowledge of their supply chains and executives and a more critical eye for modern slavery to be combatted effectively. Accountants and their systems and skills can facilitate this development.

This is the first investigation of the organisational processes and activities which underpin disclosures related to modern slavery disclosure legislation. This paper contributes to the accounting and disclosure modern slavery literature by investigating public sector organisations' processes, activities and responses to mandatory reporting legislation on modern slavery.

Inter‐firm relationships are increasingly being adopted as competitive tools. However, the challenges created by these relationships for the design and use of management control systems (MCS) have been well documented. The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of the literature on MCS and inter‐firm relationships. The review examines the types of relationships studied and the theoretical approaches.

The findings reported in the paper are based on desk research. The review is largely concentrated on the key international English language accounting journals.

Supply chain and outsourcing have been the dominant forms of inter‐firm relationships studied. Other studies have focused on joint ventures and networks. Transaction cost economics has been the dominant approach and trust has also featured as a theoretical issue in most of the studies.

The paper furthers the understanding of the contributions made by previous studies on MCS and inter‐firm relationships. Some suggestions for future research are offered at the end.