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1 – 10 of over 4000Vinal Mistry, Umesh Sharma and Mary Low
– The purpose of this paper is to examine the perceptions that management accountants have of their roles in accounting for sustainable development in their organisations.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the perceptions that management accountants have of their roles in accounting for sustainable development in their organisations.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws arguments from prior literature to identify the roles that management accountants play in accounting for sustainable development. Management accountants' perceptions of their roles in accounting for sustainable development are examined by conducting interviews and surveys of management accountants from various organisations in New Zealand. The study is informed by legitimacy theory.
Findings
Management accountants of small-medium organisations in New Zealand play a limited role in accounting for sustainable development, compared to management accountants of larger organisations. The correlation between the type of organisation and their overall goals for achieving sustainable development are closely linked with the roles the organisations' management accountants play in accounting for sustainable development.
Research limitations/implications
This research is limited as it is only an exploratory study with a small sample of small-medium and large businesses in New Zealand. There is a need for greater acceptance by senior management of the role management accountants could play in accounting for sustainable development.
Practical implications
This paper may help management accountants, of both small-medium and larger organisations, to advance accounting for sustainable development within their organisations by actively engaging with the issues that have deterred such advancement.
Originality/value
This paper provides a review of the current debates and positions of accounting for sustainable development as well as the barriers management accountants face in getting engaged in accounting for sustainable development initiatives.
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This paper aims to focus on the local government accountants’ perspective towards their current and potential role in the sustainability reporting process and to explore potential…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to focus on the local government accountants’ perspective towards their current and potential role in the sustainability reporting process and to explore potential factors influencing the further development of their role.
Design/methodology/approach
A mail survey approach was adopted across local government organisations with a deeper analysis provided through semi-structured interviews.
Findings
Findings indicate that accountants are supportive of involvement in sustainability reporting, but their actual level differs significantly from the level of involvement they believe they should have, pointing to the existence of an execution gap. Potential factors are investigated, highlighting the limited integration of sustainability beyond the organisational level, the lack of understanding of sustainability by accountants and the current need for further up-skilling by accountants.
Research limitations/implications
The study enhances understanding of the accountant’s perception towards sustainability reporting practices within the public sector, with particular focus on local government.
Originality/value
This is an exploratory study examining an area of accounting in local government in which there are few others. It seeks to contribute to the literature by exploring and examining the accountant’s perception towards sustainable development and their current and future prospects in the reporting process in the local government sector in Australia.
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The purpose of this study is to explore undergraduate accounting students' perceptions and understanding of the concept of sustainable development. Moreover, this study aims to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore undergraduate accounting students' perceptions and understanding of the concept of sustainable development. Moreover, this study aims to explore students' perceptions of the integration of sustainable development issues in accounting education in Saudi Arabia as an emerging country.
Design/methodology/approach
A questionnaire survey was administered to a sample of accounting students from four Saudi universities. The questionnaire contained five groups of questions aimed at exploring the extent of students' awareness and understanding of the concept of sustainable development, their perceptions of the importance of sustainable development for society, their perceptions of the important role of accounting in sustainable development, their satisfaction with the level of integrating sustainable development issues in accounting education at the present time and their opinions about the appropriate approach to integrate sustainable development issues in accounting education.
Findings
The findings of the study revealed that although most of the students have heard about the concept of sustainable development from the media and perceive the importance of sustainable development for society, they have a low level of understanding of this concept due to the apparent weakness in integrating sustainable development issues in accounting education in Saudi universities. Students were unsatisfied with the sustainable development learning offered by Saudi universities. They also showed a positive attitude toward integrating sustainable development issues in their accounting education. They suggested that the appropriate approach to integrate sustainable development issues in accounting education is to treat these issues in the relevant courses included in their current accounting curricula.
Practical implications
The results of this study provide indications to the administrators of Saudi universities to start developing accounting curriculum to integrate sustainable development issues into accounting education. This will result in an increase in the effectiveness of the role of these universities in achieving the goals of the Saudi Vision 2030.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the existing literature concerning how students perceive sustainable development education by focusing on the accounting students in Saudi Arabia as context that has not previously examined.
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Belinda Rachael Williams and Gary O'Donovan
This paper aims to explore the accountants’ perspective towards their role and function as business advisors in assisting with the adoption of sustainable business practices…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the accountants’ perspective towards their role and function as business advisors in assisting with the adoption of sustainable business practices (SBPs) in small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
Design/methodology/approach
A questionnaire-based study was conducted on members from one of Australia’s leading professional accounting organizations.
Findings
Key findings from this research highlighted deficiencies in the effectiveness of the accounting profession in assisting SMEs in implementing SBPs despite a desire from clients for accountants to provide this advice and a belief that accountants are best placed to do so. Further, an expectations gap is evident between the level of involvement accountants believe they should be having in assisting SMEs and the level of involvement that is currently occurring.
Research limitations/implications
This finding has implications for the accounting profession, with accountants needing to examine their current business approaches in an effort to close this gap. If this does not occur, SMEs will most likely seek this much-needed advice and support from outside the profession.
Originality/value
Little attention has been given to the accountant’s role in respect of sustainability from an accountant’s perspective. The findings contribute to understanding the accountant’s importance in advancing their involvement in assisting SMEs in the uptake of SBPs.
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Amanda J. Carter, Roger L. Burritt and John D. Pisaniello
This paper explores the role of accountants as part of the necessary infrastructure in rural community development providing specialised knowledge and skills to business owners…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper explores the role of accountants as part of the necessary infrastructure in rural community development providing specialised knowledge and skills to business owners who may lack the expertise required to ensure successful business operations.
Design/methodology/approach
Perceptions of seven rural development officers from separate Rural Development Boards and two local governments in South Australia are canvassed through a set of interviews.
Findings
Findings challenge the notion that use of modern communication technology, which allows for accountants and their accountancy practices to be located anywhere in the world, is sufficient to fulfil their role in rural communities. Instead, a critical dual role for accountants is identified which includes a community development function.
Research limitations/implications
The research is limited by the geographic area from which the participants were selected. While this controlled for any possible jurisdictional differences between states in Australia, the participants targeted comprise only a relatively small group.
Originality/value
The paper identifies an important role for accountants in rural communities hitherto unidentified. Accountant contributions to rural development and the sustainability of rural communities is highlighted.
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Mitali Panchal Arora, Sumit Lodhia and Gerard William Stone
With the accelerated global adoption of integrated reporting, this paper aims to understand the role of practicing accountants in integrated reporting.
Abstract
Purpose
With the accelerated global adoption of integrated reporting, this paper aims to understand the role of practicing accountants in integrated reporting.
Design/methodology/approach
Using the case study approach, data was collected from semi-structured interviews in six international organisations that have adopted integrated reporting. Institutional work provided the theoretical insights for this study.
Findings
The study found that accountants were an indispensable part of the integrated reporting process because of their strength and knowledge in corporate reporting. However, despite having the potential to engage, it was noted that accountants currently do not apply their key reporting skills in the integrated reporting context. It was observed that accountants’ roles were limited to carrying out their traditional routine financial reporting activities including reporting on the financial aspects of the report, developing key performance indicators and assisting with assurance related tasks.
Research limitations/implications
This study adds to the limited literature by providing a comprehensive understanding of how accountants are currently involved in integrated reporting. This study suggests that accountants are seeking to maintain their existing institutional practices.
Practical implications
A need for accountants to move beyond maintaining their institutional roles and engage more extensively in integrated reporting is emphasised.
Originality/value
Through its focus on human agency, this study applied institutional work to integrated reporting, thereby expanding literature on integrated reporting and the roles performed by accountants in this process. This study also contributes to the conceptualisation of maintaining institutions strategies through the development of the cooperative strategy.
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Marie-Andrée Caron and Anne Fortin
The purpose of this study is to explore the potential for technical accounting resources to help professional accountants exercise their performative agency.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore the potential for technical accounting resources to help professional accountants exercise their performative agency.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors combine the integrative learning theory of truth and the concept of performativity, including two approaches to sustainability education and interventions, to construct a grid for coding the technical resources provided by the UK's Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, a pioneer in sustainability advocacy.
Findings
The findings suggest the dominance of the “predetermined and expert-determined” approach. They also reveal the emergence of three levels of performative topoi based on the relative presence of the “predetermined and expert-determined” and “process-of-seeking” approaches to professional interventions toward sustainability. The results show the profession's evolving contribution to the construction of actionable knowledge.
Research limitations/implications
The main limitation of this research is that it draws on a limited corpus. In addition, the use of a binary code to represent the presence/absence of a code does not convey the code's quantitative importance.
Practical implications
The results are useful for those wanting to produce technical accounting resources that are more likely to help professionals build actionable knowledge and contribute to accountants' interventions toward sustainability.
Social implications
Findings suggest the need for reflection on how the accounting profession can best contribute to implementing sustainability in organizations.
Originality/value
Few studies deconstruct professional technical resources to see how a profession can contribute to a process of societal change.
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The objective of sustainability assurance (SA) is to give credibility to nonfinancial information (Cheng et al., 2015). In France, certain companies are subject by regulation to…
Abstract
Purpose
The objective of sustainability assurance (SA) is to give credibility to nonfinancial information (Cheng et al., 2015). In France, certain companies are subject by regulation to the implementation of SA in particular with the transposition of European Directive 2014/95/EU into national law. SA mission is a process by which an independent third-party organization (ITO) assures companies' nonfinancial information. Although this assignment is mostly performed by professional accountants, other providers can perform this assignment (Cohen and Simnett, 2015). In this research, the authors are interested in strategies for legitimizing the SA missions of independent third-party bodies. Assurance providers use their website to promote their missions. How do independent third-party bodies legitimize their assurance mission in a regulatory context relating to European Directive 2014/95/EU?
Design/methodology/approach
The authors carried out a discursive analysis of the promotion of SA missions on independent third-party body websites. A content analysis was performed on the collected textual data.
Findings
The results highlight different strategies for promoting the implementation of assurance missions aimed at legitimizing their new skills. Nevertheless, it appears that the providers make very little reference to the quality of nonfinancial information as the objective of SA missions.
Research limitations/implications
The research made it possible to study the promotion of SA through the websites of ITOs. Nevertheless, it would have been interesting to be able to question the ITOs to study their perceptions on their new SA missions.
Practical implications
The research enriches the literature on SA, particularly in a regulatory context relating to European Directive 2014/95/EU. It sheds light on the different strategies put in place by the providers appointed by regulations. From a managerial point of view, the study may allow ITOs to adapt their communication to promote extra-financial missions relating to the European Directive and thus to attract new clients. Finally at the institutional and regulatory level, this research highlights the need to put in place a precise framework relating to extra-financial assurance missions. This may also encourage countries not subject to the verification obligation to introduce such an obligation into their national law.
Originality/value
This is the first study to examine the promotion of SA practice by providers. In addition, very few studies have looked at this practice in a regulatory context and in particular within the framework of the European directive.
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The purpose of this study was to examine curricular innovation in accounting using multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and t-test to measure the effects of transformative…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to examine curricular innovation in accounting using multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and t-test to measure the effects of transformative sustainability education in accounting on the attitudes of male and female undergraduate accounting students at a public university in the southwestern USA toward the four sustainable development dimensions of environment, economy, society and education.
Design/methodology/approach
A quasi-experimental research methodology using data from a convenience sample of 157 accounting students’ responses to an online Qualtrics survey compared the attitudes of male and female undergraduate accounting students who had sustainability education in accounting to those who did not toward the four aspects of environment, economy, society and education for sustainable development using correlation, MANOVA, independent- and paired-samples t-tests.
Findings
While there were no significant differences between the male and female accounting students’ attitudes who had sustainability education and those who did not, there were significant differences between some dimensions of sustainable development with medium effect sizes, and correlations between the students’ attitudes were moderate, positive and significant.
Research limitations/implications
This study was relatively small and conducted at one university, but the results indicated that the students consider sustainability education valuable to their future careers, which is important for future curriculum development.
Originality/value
This study showed that transformative sustainability education does not produce gender differences in students’ attitudes toward sustainable development.
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Zabihollah Rezaee, Saeid Homayoun, Nick J. Rezaee and Ehsan Poursoleyman
This paper aims to examine the association between sustainable development goals (SDGs) at the micro level and firms’ inclination to sustainability reporting and assurance (SRA).
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the association between sustainable development goals (SDGs) at the micro level and firms’ inclination to sustainability reporting and assurance (SRA).
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use global data from 44 countries in the 2016–2021 period and perform the probit and logistic models in testing the hypotheses.
Findings
The results show that socially responsible firms adopting SDGs are more likely to issue sustainability reports and obtain assurance statements. The authors find that the link between firms’ compliance with SDGs and SRA is stronger for firms domiciled in stakeholder-oriented countries.
Originality/value
SRA issues are gaining the attention of regulators, investors, businesses and academics worldwide. Results pertaining to the relationship between SDGs and SRA are robust to alternative measures and several sensitivity tests and, thus, provide policy, practice and research implications.
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