Over the last few years, business sustainability has become more than just a word. Clients of a business company or a firm have grown so strict with business policies that ascertain sustainability. The logical belief about business policy-making is that it makes business and firms more resilient and sustainable. According to research by Center for accounting, governance, and sustainability at the University of South Australia customers are increasingly drawn to a business that takes sustainability seriously and has a well-structured policy that caters for positive impacts on the social, cultural and economic environment of the company (Wood et al. 2014).
Taking sustainability very serious initiates the role that accountants have for sustainability. Some articles prefer that with the skills of an accountant, they are the ones able to measure the policy sustainability program. Some accounting scholars, however, believe that accountants lack such skills that qualify them to be at the center of sustainability program of a company. Such companies propose further training for accountants for them to develop business sustainability skills (Hawkins et al. 1906). Additional literature even suggests ways in which sustainability training can be introduced in accounting university training. Such concerns reveal how sustainability is essential to the accounting issue, therefore, justifying the research proposal (Upward, Antony and Peter 2016).
The research is essential to practicing accountants. From this research, an accountant can be able to identify their roles in sustainability programs. The analysis can even reveal to firm managers, how their practicing accountants can be submitted to sustainability training programs if they feel accountants have a role to play in the policy sustainability program. Their actions on how such training should be conducted will depend on the result of the research, proving how the study is crucial and essential. Top professional bodies that include, accounting colleges and Universities might also find it very important to include the research in finding out whether curriculum of the accountants should be changed to accommodate sustainability as an essential factor to current business demands (Howlett, Cathy, Anne and Jessica 2016).
The theory also builds up the proposed transdisciplinary accounting. Transdisciplinary accounting theory proposes that accounting should not be independent. The theory developed by a group of South Australian accountants suggests that there is demand and need for an accounting to be partnered with other disciplines like engineering, law, and economics. Such interdisciplinary program, they believe, is the solution to sustainability problems such as; carbon trading, market pricing, and other concerns. The theory even suggests that engineering metrics might help accountants develop skills in environmental accounting (Khan et al. 2016). Environmental accounting is a field that explains the role of carbon emissions in substantial revenue. This research proposal will be vital in building such a theory proposal (Ferronato et al. 2016).
According to an article by O’Dwyer, Brendan and Jeffrey, (2016), accounting has an essential role to play in sustainability program. According to the article, it is the role of the accountants to put the proposed sustainability policy to the stakeholders of the firms. The article, therefore, seems to assure to the fact that accountants should be at the center of developing a sustainability program. A shift towards a positive policy might mean a more significant outlay for the company that results to hit on profits. If it yields to profit, the accountants might not have a difficult time justifying the change in policy. However, not every time policy sustainability change will lead to margin profits of the company (Bebbington, Jan, and Carlos-Larrinaga 2014). When the system has effects on the company’s shareholder’s dividends, most stakeholders will struggle to buy and get convinced about the new system. It is at this point that the accountant role will come in. An accountant is, therefore, expected to explain to the stakeholders, the business case and demands for investing in such policies. An accountant must show the stakeholder the short-term effects of the policy, the long-term effects and other side effects that might arise from adopting the policy. The research will try to find out how it is possible that accountants sell sustainability programs to stakeholders of a firm and convincing them to buy the idea.
Firm accountants perform most of firm budgets. Accountants mostly draw a budget and undertake financial analysis. This is the sole role of accountants in many developed firms. Proper accounting analysis, according to the literature by Ball, Amanda, Suzana and Jeff (2014), should reveal specific areas where greater efficiencies and the possibility of a mind-blowing policy should emanate from. An accountant might develop policies from their analysis that forms sustainability. A typical example is identifying an opportunity of running a more environmentally friendly office. Another one might be identifying a profit policy that saves the company’s fuel. The article is, therefore, advocating for the role of accountants in tying to identifying opportunities that might lead to a broader commitment to sustainability. It even suggests that it is the accountants who have the role of proposing capital assets of the firm and integrating such sustainability ideas in the decision-making process. The research will, therefore, determine the practical policies that are developed by accountants and how they achieved the same.
The third journal by Dyer, Georges, and Michelle (2017), just like the two above mentioned articles, concur that accountants have an essential role in the sustainability program. This article introduces the reputation of accounting for sustainability. According to the journal, accountants are the face of a company. Reputational benefits can be attained by selling the right sustainable practice to the public and the stakeholders. A wrong impression might make the company suffer reputational disaster, which will eventually affects the profits of a firm. An accountant, therefore, helps the company present a transparent, accurate and verifiable face and picture to the public. This can only be managed by giving an almost perfect sustainability effort- one that the sums add up. Accountants are, therefore, the natural source to ensuring transparency in a contemporary accounting firm. Transparency will, therefore, easily translate into perfect public reputation, all in the name of achieving sustainability. The research will, therefore, seek to understand how reputation affects sustainability policies and the role of accountants in policymaking.
The article by Maas et al. (2016), however, takes a somewhat different direction. To them, accountants do not have a role to play in a sustainability program. The justification for this assumption, however, remains quite mind blowing. There is a rapidly changing environment with which accountants work. Therefore, the new set of skills that come with sustainability is complicated in that they have no role unless they are trained. The perfect example given in the journal is accounting for carbon as a sustainability program. Such accounting is quite complicated since it requires thinking beyond disciplinary boundaries. An accountant will be required to have perfect skills in natural science and environmental science to come up with a faultless environmental sustainability policy for a carbon tax. From that one example, the article dismisses any role that accountants play in sustainability policies. The article prefers that accountants are only consumers of the already set policies and programs with different expertise in the firm. Engineers, lawyers, and other experts propose the policies and accountants are a consumer and can only change just a few things. Accountants, therefore, only play subordinating roles in sustainability policies. The study will seek to find out if accounting only plays a subordinating role in developing sustainability policies.
The article by Bebbington, Jan and Carlos (2014), does not subordinate the role by accountants, but believe accountants cannot contribute to the sustainability policies without partnering. The journal takes a transdisciplinary approach where accounting is used together with another discipline. The article uses an example of measuring the effects of carbon on the firm. A company has to develop carbon equivalent outputs in developing a carbon tax measurement that should be given to a client. Carbon equivalent outputs can only be measured by measuring industrial processes-furnaces, energy sources that drive production and service delivery (Khan, George and Aaron 2016). Some firms go as far as identifying carbon emissions during product end life period. Any trained accountant cannot determine all this however much the training levels of the accountant. Expertise in this field will be required, in this case, a trained engineer. Partnering with an engineer will make it easier for the accountant to come up with a sustainability program of a carbon tax. Justifying the journal perspective of a transdisciplinary approach, the research will, therefore, seek to determine if there is a need of accounting interacting with other disciplines for sustainability policies.
Integrating approach has always been a success to the most company. Recent research carried out in top Australian companies shows that 40 of them preferred using an integrated approach to achieve sustainability policies. This finding is also appreciated by Le Blanc and David (2015) in their journal article. They propose that the integrated approach involves some accountants from different companies and firms that share their experiences in achieving sustainability before they land on a perfect decision that would be used by all of them. Most of such meetings are held at the Centre for Accounting, Governance and Sustainability conference. It is the same conference that developed the proposal of all companies investing in a policy that will see carbon emissions by 3% annually to realize a profit of $190. Though most companies later, did not adapt to this measure as it was proposed, as recorded in the journal, it was a perfect display of integration. The research will, therefore, find ways in which integration can make an impact to accounting.
Accountants have an essential role in creating a firm’s sustainability programe.
References
Ball, A., Grubnic, S. and Birchall, J., 2014. 11 Sustainability accounting and accountability in the public sector. Sustainability accounting and accountability, p.176.
Bebbington, J. and Carlos L., (2014). “Accounting and sustainable development: An exploration.” Accounting, Organizations and Society 39.6: 395-413.
Dyer, G. and Dyer, M., 2017. Strategic leadership for sustainability by higher education: the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment. Journal of Cleaner Production, 140, pp.111-116.
Ferronato, N., Bezzi, M., Zortea, M., Torretta, V. and Ragazzi, M., 2016. An interdisciplinary approach for introducing sustainable integrated solid waste management system in developing countries: The case of La Paz (Bolivia). Procedia Environ. Sci. Eng. Manag, 3, pp.71-81.
Wood, R., Stadler, K., Bulavskaya, T., Lutter, S., Giljum, S., de Koning, A., Kuenen, J., Schütz, H., Acosta-Fernández, J., Usubiaga, A. and Simas, M., 2014. Global sustainability accounting—developing EXIOBASE for multi-regional footprint analysis. Sustainability, 7(1), pp.138-163.
Hawkins, C.V., Krause, R.M., Feiock, R.C. and Curley, C., 2016. Making meaningful commitments: Accounting for variation in cities’ investments of staff and fiscal resources to sustainability. Urban Studies, 53(9), pp.1902-1924.
Howlett, C., Ferreira, J.A. and Blomfield, J., 2016. Teaching sustainable development in higher education: Building critical, reflective thinkers through an interdisciplinary approach. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 17(3), pp.305-321.
Khan, M., Serafeim, G. and Yoon, A., 2016. Corporate sustainability: First evidence on materiality. The accounting review, 91(6), pp.1697-1724.
Le Blanc and David (2015). “Towards integration at last? The sustainable development goals as a network of targets.” Sustainable Development 23.3: 176-187.
Maas, K., Schaltegger, S. and Crutzen, N., 2016. Integrating corporate sustainability assessment, management accounting, control, and reporting. Journal of Cleaner Production, 136, pp.237-248.
O’Dwyer, B. and Unerman, J., 2016. Fostering rigour in accounting for social sustainability. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 49, pp.32-40.
onment 29.1 (2016): 97-123.
Upward, A. and Jones, P., 2016. An ontology for strongly sustainable business models: Defining an enterprise framework compatible with natural and social science. Organization & Environment, 29(1), pp.97-123.
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