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Utilising Accounting and Accountants in the Management of Water Efficiency

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  • Matthew Egan

Abstract

This paper explores how five Australian organisations utilised accounting techniques and accountants as they developed an increasing focus on water efficiency during a period of drought. In those cases where top management were responsive to developing community logics that argued for the importance of efforts to maximise water efficiency, non‐accountants found space to experiment with a diversity of decision‐useful accounting initiatives. While initially bypassed, accountants ultimately became important for their ability to link evolving initiatives to core organisational concerns. Alternatively, in those organisations where senior responsiveness to evolving community concerns about water efficiency was limited, accountants dominated from the outset, presiding over a limited range of responses that offered an appearance, but little substance, of change.

Suggested Citation

  • Matthew Egan, 2018. "Utilising Accounting and Accountants in the Management of Water Efficiency," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 28(3), pages 356-373, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:ausact:v:28:y:2018:i:3:p:356-373
    DOI: 10.1111/auar.12191
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    1. Stewart Jones & Nurul Alam, 2019. "A machine learning analysis of citation impact among selected Pacific Basin journals," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 59(4), pages 2509-2552, December.

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