Ian Hume Thomson

Theorizing engagement: the potential of a critical dialogic approach

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to contribute to discussions about engagement in social and environmental accounting, drawing on dialogic theory and philosophy. A dialogic approach, building on existing critical inquiries, is introduced to derive principles to inform “on the ground” engagements. Applying dialogic thinking to social and environmental accounting encourages the development of dialogic forms of accountability, more authentic engagements and is more likely to contribute to sustainable social and environmental change. Design/methodology/approach - Contains a synthesis of literature from within and beyond social and environmental accounting to shed light on the issues addressed by the special issue. Findings - Research engagements in social and environmental accounting need not be taken in a haphazard manner uninformed by theory. In particular, the “learning turn” in social sciences has generated a large body of theorizing (informed by concrete engagement activities) that can be used to shape, guide and support engagement. Practical implications - The principles developed can be used to inform future research design, with the aim of increasing the likelihood that such engagements will yield outcomes of “value” usually defined as emancipatory changes. Originality/value - This paper develops a new (to accounting) theoretical perspective.

Social reporting, engagements, controversies and conflict in an arena context

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate relationships between engagement activities and social reporting practices in a controversial and environmentally sensitive industry. The interactions investigated were not restricted to stakeholder relationships but included other communications between different stakeholders. Design/methodology/approach - This paper presents a case study approach framed within a contested political arena. Data were gathered using multiple methods including interviews with salmon farming organisations, stakeholders, rule-enforcers, issue amplifiers and political institutions. Findings - All arena participants used social reports in their interactions to communicate the social, environmental and economic consequences of salmon farming. Different social reporting practices appeared to be reflexively related to the competing motivations of different stakeholders. However, social reporting in Scottish salmon farming was fragmented, driven by many different factors and did not necessarily lead to a resolution of the conflicts within this arena. Research limitations/implications - Researching social reporting should consider the co-existence and co-evolution of different social reports, competing motivations and engagement tactics of stakeholders. This paper identifies the construction of holistic reports from multiple reports and issue amplification as two research methods to engage in social and environmental policy debates. Originality/value - This paper presents empirical evidence from an under-researched industry, which has the potential to develop the theoretical understanding of social reporting. It also introduces the arena concept as a useful tool in further social reporting research.

Analysing the role of sustainable development indicators in accounting for and constructing a Sustainable Scotland

Abstract The main objective of this paper was to analyse how sustainable development indicators impacted upon the integration of sustainable development into the governing of Scotland. A major concern was whether an accounting technology could represent this complex multi-dimensional and interdisciplinary concept. We analysed the relationship between the official sustainable development strategy of the Scottish Executive and the associated indicator set using an analytics of government framework (Dean, M. (1999). Governmentality: Power and rule in modern society. London: Sage Publications. Dean, M. (2007). Governing societies. Berkshire: Open University Press). We observed a lack of alignment between these sustainable development indicators and the visions, fields of visibilities, forms of knowledge and techniques of government contained in this strategy. Critical aspects of this strategy were omitted from the indicator set and we argue that these indicators did not to effectively measure progress towards a Sustainable Scotland but that they could calculatively capture and distort the sustainable development governing process. The analytical framework used allowed us to problematise these indicators and contribute to a wider discourse on the composition and nature of sustainable development indicators.

Organic salmon farming: risk perceptions, decision heuristics, and the absence of environmental accounting

Abstract This paper reports on interviews with salmon farmers exploring their decision as to whether to adopt organic production methods. Organic salmon farming has the potential to considerably reduce the social, environmental and economic risks associated with salmon farming. Salmon farming is an industry subjected to intense scrutiny and is highly controversial. The combination of these two factors was expected to reveal the use of environmental accounting in evaluating this potentially difficult, expensive strategic decision, responding to the barrage of public criticism, driven by changing environmental regulations and a potential value shift by key actors.

Social and Environmental Accounting, Auditing, and Reporting: A Potential Source of Organisational Risk Governance?

The authors examine the extent to which the practices of social and environmental accounting, auditing, and reporting (SEAAR) provide opportunities for the identification, communication, and management of social and environmental risks. In introducing and exploring accounting practices, the theoretical allegiances of accounting are also outlined in order to situate accounting as a social science discipline which experiences similar debates to other areas of scholarship. The authors also extend discussion of risk governance and accounting by reference to the ‘new’ literature on risk from writers such as Adams, Beck, and Lash. It is suggested that the insights from these broader theorists on risk apply equally to conventional accounting and attempts via SEAAR to create an expanded governance framework. In particular, Beck identifies a number of critical aspects of risk governance that are also central to an understanding of accounting, including: the danger of seeking verifiable and neutral truth; the causal denial of harm; the contestation of expert and lay knowledge of risks; social construction of risk; and the radicalisation of rationality. Paraphrasing Beck, it is argued that accounting and accountants are incapable of managing the risks of industrialisation as they are implicated in the creation and multiplication of these risks, yet accounting and accountants, in particular those engaged in SEAAR, can play an essential role in identifying these risks. It is further argued that the contribution of SEAAR to risk governance will largely depend upon a radicalisation of accounting rationality in practice.

Resonance tropes in corporate philanthropy discourse.

This paper explores corporate charitable giving disclosures in order to question the extent to which corporations can claim that their philanthropy activities are charitable at all. Exploration of these issues is carried out by means of a tropological analysis that focuses on the different linguistic tropes within the philanthropy disclosures of 52 companies, namely metaphor and synecdoche. The results reveal a number of complex and contradictory things. Primarily, the master metaphor of ‘altruism’ projected by the corporate disclosures is ideologically at odds with the more business case-oriented discourse that shapes the disclosures. This contradiction is put into starker contrast by the existence of a root metaphor, whereby the recipients of corporate philanthropy are presented as the ‘deserving poor’. Synecdochal devices are present within the corporate disclosures, whereby employee initiatives that are independent of corporate strategies are used to confer attributes onto the disclosures that bolster the master metaphor of ‘altruism’. As such, corporate philanthropy is presented by the paper as a structurally incoherent discourse and yet one that has implications for both extracting greater value from various societal groups and in defining, on behalf of civil society, what is a worthy cause.

Satanic Mills? An Illustration of Victorian External Environmental Accounting?

Abstract The paper evaluates a Victorian environmental account of the pollution of the River Wandle. This account was produced during a period of social and environmental crisis, when there were no significant industrial environmental regulations. This problematising external environmental account provides valuable insights into the historical development of social and environmental accounting. Our analysis located this account within an institutional reform programme to create systems of governance to mitigate the damage arising from unfettered industrial growth. We argue that problematising external environmental accounting has a longer tradition than previously recognised in the literature and predates corporate social and environmental reporting.

Punk Rock, Festival Fringes and Football Fanzines: A Future for Social and Environmental Accounting Research?

Abstract This is a commentary piece that responds to Correa Ruiz and Laine [2013. “Struggling Against Like-Minded Conformity to Enliven SEAR: A Call for Passion.” Social and Environmental Accountability Journal 33 (3): 134–144] and is intended to create a bit of controversy and debate.

Commentary: A proposal for theoretical models of stakeholder perceptions of a new financial reporting system

This commentary explores the article by Fontes et al. published in this issue of Accounting Forum. They argue that the scope of IFRS continues to widen across the world using a number of social science disciplines to discuss stakeholder perceptions of change. The commentary uses Hegels Science of Logic to situate their arguments through four key theoretical approaches that are prominent in the accounting literature. Ultimately, this has the potential to situate IASB frameworks in such a way as to challenge the economic and neoliberal logic on which modern accounting is based.

Sustainability and Accounting Education

Accounting for Sustainability has moved from the sidelines of policy discourses, accounting institutions, professional accounting practices and research activities to the mainstream. Early pioneers struggled for decades to legitimise sustainability as part of accounting research and education, and this themed issue builds on their efforts. This issue is an opportunity to reflect on how far accounting educators have travelled and how far we still have to go if we are to educate accountants to think, act and account sustainably. Contained in this issue are impassioned pleas, reasoned arguments and inspirations for change from academics and non-academics from different countries, as well as practical examples on how to embed sustainability in accounting education. One of our objectives as Guest Editors has been to create a critical dialogue in order to facilitate change in the praxis of accounting education for sustainability and, to this end, we sought to include as many different voices as was reasonably possible. After accepting the four main articles, we invited two commentators for each paper in the spirit of constructively engaging with the material, and subsequently offered the authors the opportunity of a Rejoinder. We believe that this strategy has allowed many different perspectives on accounting education to be represented, creating a lively, insightful and challenging contribution to an already dynamic discourse. Collectively, these papers, Commentaries and Rejoinders dispel the myth that accounting for sustainability is an oxymoron, bad for business, unrelated to practice or contrary to professional accreditation requirements. They create a compelling case for the inclusion of sustainability at the heart of accounting educational programmes. These papers, Commentaries and Rejoinders also present a number of critical lessons and warnings of the risks to avoid when designing accounting programmes and courses; in particular, the risk of capture by accounting (or business) thinking or practices that are intrinsically unsustainable. However, running through the papers, Commentaries and Rejoinders is the notion that accounting for sustainability can and must be attempted. A recurrent theme in the papers, Commentaries and Rejoinders is the importance of understanding the role of accounting processes and practices within sustainability programmatic discourses in order to effectively and authentically embed sustainability in the accounting curricula. An important contribution of this themed issue is the recognition that accounting for sustainability is more than accounting for and to the environment. Accounting sustainably also involves accounting for and to society, including those groups currently oppressed or disadvantaged by unsustainable processes and practices. Accounting education for sustainability extends beyond ‘business case-sustainability’ to incorporate the challenges of accounting for radical social transformations, eco-effectiveness Accounting Education: an international journal, 2013 Vol. 22, No. 4, 303–307, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09639284.2013.817787