Roger Burritt

Sustainability accounting and reporting: fad or trend?

Purpose - The paper aims to discuss the current development of sustainability accounting research, the identification of critical and managerial paths, and to assess of the future of sustainability accounting and reporting. Design/methodology/approach - The paper is a review of recent literature in sustainability accounting. Findings - Assessment of recent literature leads to the conclusion that both management decision making, through problem solving and scorekeeping, and a critical approach, through awareness raising, contribute to the development of sustainability accounting and reporting; however, the development of sustainability accounting and reporting should be orientated more towards improving management decision making. Originality/value - The paper is a systematic review of recent research developments in sustainability accounting.

Accounting and Ecological Crisis

Ecology considers the interrelationships between all species and matter. It is argued that there are important direct and indirect links between accounting information and ecological effects. A direct link can be traced through identification of some of the conventional problems of accounting. An indirect link can be traced through economics. It is only comparatively recently that the link between economics and ecology has received significant attention. In particular, the relationship between economic development and environmental quality has come to the fore. The concepts of “ecodevelopment”, an ecologically sound economic development strategy, and of “sustainable development” have promoted the view that there may be positive as well as negative interdependences between economics and ecology. With this linking of economics and ecology, the next logical step is to consider possible indirect links between accounting and ecology, with economics as an intervening variable, since a link between accounting an...

Accountability for environmental performance of the Australian Commonwealth public sector

Takes an exploratory approach to the development of an accountability framework for environmental performance of the Australian Commonwealth public sector. Explains that the aim of the environmental performance accountability framework is for the various stakeholders to understand the actions of Commonwealth public sector organizations and consequences of those actions for ecological systems; to become familiar with the trends and changes in trends in public sector environmental performance; and to place stakeholders in a position to promote change when performance is not acceptable. Examines three interrelated strands of literature. Identifies key institutional stakeholders in the Commonwealth public sector. Synthesizes the literature related to public sector transformation, and reviews the flourishing literature on environmental accounting and reporting, and links it to the concept of environmental accountability. Drawing on this literature, explores interrelationships between three characteristics of environmental performance at the federal level in the Australian public sector: criticality of natural capital; information uncertainty; and regulatory response. Examines environmental accountability dimensions of each of these characteristics. Concludes by making three policy recommendations: first, measurement of environmental performance should focus on criticality of natural capital and informational uncertainty as bounded by the precautionary principle; second, the measures of criticality of natural capital and informational uncertainty should determine the extent of direct accountability to parliament for each public sector organization’s environmental performance; and, finally, a third party attestation of reported information is needed. Also makes some suggestions for extending this exploratory research.

Measuring and managing sustainability performance of supply chains: Review and sustainability supply chain management framework

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to discuss what a fully sustainable supply chain might look like and the consequences that can be drawn from this view. Also, it develops a practical approach towards sustainability supply chain performance measurement and management. The paper develops an analytical framework for the assessment of approaches for the measurement and management of sustainability performance of supply chains (SPSCs). Little research has been conducted on the issues, existing methods and possible approaches to measure and manage SPSCs. Design/methodology/approach – Literature review and conceptual development of framework. Findings – The paper develops an analytical framework for the assessment of approaches for the measurement and management of SPSCs. Existing approaches discussed in the vein of improving supply chains and increasing recycling are examined in the light of our framework, and areas to extend the research on sustainability performance measurement and management are identi...

Environmental management accounting in local government: A case of waste management

Purpose - This study aims to explore the state of environmental management accounting practice and the motivations for its use with a view to improving waste and recycling management by local government. The focus is on practice in local governments situated in the state of New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Prior studies suggest the need for environmental management accounting as a supporting tool for waste management. Design/methodology/approach - An exploratory case study method was applied in 12 NSW local government organisations. In each local government interviews were conducted with managers responsible for waste and recycling issues. Findings - Contrary to prior research this study found that, in the local governments investigated, an increasing amount of environmental management accounting information is being made available. The case studies found two main motivations encouraging the development of environmental management accounting in local government: first, social structural influences, such as regulatory pressures from different environmental regulatory bodies, environmental expectations from local communities, and pressures from peer councils; second, organisational contextual influences reflecting situational needs in the organisational contexts, such as complex waste operations and service designs, changes and uncertainties in waste and recycling management, and the councils strategic position for waste management. Research limitations/implications - The results imply that institutional theory and contingency theory provide different but complementary explanations for the development of environmental management accounting in waste management. Although previous environmental studies are overwhelmingly in favour of social system-based theories, such as institutional theory, to explain environmental changes in organisations, an organisations contextual dynamics seem to be equally important. Originality/value - The findings about motivations provide useful information for environmental strategists and government regulators to make policies that improve accountability and the efficiency of waste and recycling management as well as promote future development of environmental management accounting to support sustainable waste management solutions.

Environmental Management Accounting for Cleaner Production

Sustainability requires companies to develop in an economically, environmentally and socially sustainable manner. Corporate sustainable development in turn requires movement towards cleaner production. In order to recognize the potential from cleaner production reduced costs and fewer environmental impacts through the reduced use of materials environmental management accounting (EMA) is a necessary information management tool. Environmental Management Accounting for Cleaner Production reveals a set of tools for companies to collect, evaluate and interpret the information they need to estimate their potential to use cleaner production to realize cost savings and to make the best decisions about the available cleaner production options. EMA is therefore the key for driving environmental progress, cost savings, increased competitiveness and corporate sustainability through the means of cleaner production.

Eco-efficiency in corporate budgeting

Any measure of eco‐efficiency requires financial information, for calculating the numerator, and physical information about the environment, for calculating the denominator. Accounting and finance staff provide key financial information about the numerator in eco‐efficiency calculations. Hence, for eco‐efficiency measures to be calculated and for the measures to add value it is essential for them to be integrated with accounting and financial management processes such as budgetary control. Calculating measures of eco‐efficiency is not enough on its own to ensure corporate value is added. Accounting and finance staff have to be involved in the planning of future long‐term eco‐efficiency improvement. If value added from continuous improvement in eco‐efficiency activities is to be anticipated it is necessary for eco‐efficiency and budgeting to be integrated. The paper provides some conceptual and practical guidance to help managers achieve this integration. Recently a number of companies have suggested that corporate budgeting no longer serves a purpose in their organizations (e.g. in network organizations). By demonstrating that, if information related to the neglect of potential environmental protection activities is ignored, the costs to business can be very high, this suggested change in practice is considered. It is concluded that a set of contingent guidelines need to be developed for budgeted eco‐efficiency situations to help management and regulators assess value‐added opportunities from using this new environmental management tool.

Environmental performance accountability: planet, people, profits

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to provide comment on the contribution of the Environmental performance accountability special issue of Design/methodology/approach - The diegetic method used for this article allowed for the provision of a narrative about actions, characters and events of interest to an audience. This method facilitated the intersection between the biographical and the historical content and context, and a hypodiegesis provided the ability for an embedded story within the larger history. The approach allowed for a hypodiegetic as the story within the story of developing the relationships between academic accountants and practitioners. Findings - Contained in the special issue is a set of articles marking the extremes of academic and practitioner perspectives on what is broadly termed environmental performance and accountability. Review of the content of the special issue reveals that the bias is towards academic rather than practitioner appreciation. Review of the context providing the setting for the special issue shows the need for publishers to engage in the social media mechanisms needed to commence dialogue and convey the messages of academics to practitioners. Research limitations/implications - Subjective assessment is overtly recognized rather than subsumed in the research methods adopted. Practical implications - The embedding of articles in special issues within a broader communications portfolio for practitioner understanding is suggested. Originality/value - The nature of the personal reflection means that thoughts recorded are novel and unique.

Public sector accountability failure in an emerging economy: The case of the National Bank of Fiji

Adoption of new public sector management (NPM) is commonplace in both developed and emerging economies. One premise of NPM is that an effective accountability mechanism is in place. It is argued here that where bad management and corruption are present, this fundamental accountability mechanism may fail for two reasons. These are considered further through the situation existing in Fiji in relation to problems experienced at the National Bank of Fiji (NBF). The demise of the NBF provides an example of a country where NPM has been introduced, where poor management and corruption are entrenched and where accountability has not worked because parties do not provide a proper account of their actions. This scandal illustrates the need for proponents of NPM to consider the context into which the system is being fitted, such as poor management, the extent of corruption and presence of political favours, when considering the net benefits likely to arise from its introduction.

Challenges for Environmental Management Accounting

Environmental management accounting (EMA) is concerned about the accounting needs of managers in relation to corporate activities that affect the environment as well as environment-related impacts on the organization. This paper provides an overview of a range of challenges faced by EMA.