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Corporate accountability and the physical environment: Social responsibility and accounting beyond profit

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  • Jan Bebbington
  • Rob Gray

Abstract

The social responsibility debates of the last thirty years have resolved little and have had only peripheral effects on traditional business behaviour. Social responsibility issues are re‐emerging in the light of the environmental crisis and are far too important to be once again marginalised by traditional business thinking. Economic and environmental criteria will, increasingly, be in conflict and accountants ‐ like all business professionals ‐ are implicated in this, not least because it is accounting that defines the rules, keeps the score, announces the results and determines who shall see them. The paper attempts to re‐examine social responsibility and accountability in the light of the re‐emerging environmental concern and suggests some ways in which accounting might contribute towards an organisation's attempts to become less unsustainable.

Suggested Citation

  • Jan Bebbington & Rob Gray, 1993. "Corporate accountability and the physical environment: Social responsibility and accounting beyond profit," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 2(2), pages 1-11, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:2:y:1993:i:2:p:1-11
    DOI: 10.1002/bse.3280020201
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Hines, Ruth D., 1988. "Financial accounting: In communicating reality, we construct reality," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 13(3), pages 251-261, April.
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    Cited by:

    1. Markus Milne & Rob Gray, 2013. "W(h)ither Ecology? The Triple Bottom Line, the Global Reporting Initiative, and Corporate Sustainability Reporting," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 118(1), pages 13-29, November.
    2. Franck Aggeri & Morgane Le Breton, 2016. "Que signifie être transparent ? La régulation de la transparence : la matérialisation d’un idéal en technologie de gouvernement," Post-Print hal-01901216, HAL.
    3. Franck Aggeri & Morgane Le Breton, 2016. "The regulation of transparency in the field of CSR," Post-Print halshs-01368029, HAL.
    4. Mark Shenkin & Andrea B. Coulson, 2007. "Accountability through activism: learning from Bourdieu," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 20(2), pages 297-317, April.
    5. Francisco Ascui & Theodor F. Cojoianu, 2019. "Implementing natural capital credit risk assessment in agricultural lending," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(6), pages 1234-1249, September.
    6. Susanne Östlund, 1994. "The limits and possibilities in designing the environmentally sustainable firm," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 3(2), pages 21-33.
    7. Banerjee, Subhabrata Bobby, 2002. "Corporate environmentalism: the construct and its measurement," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 55(3), pages 177-191, March.
    8. Frank Birkin & Helle Bank Jørgensen, 1994. "Tales in two countries: An insight into corporate environmental reporting in Denmark and the UK," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 3(3), pages 10-15.
    9. K E Hill, 1997. "Supply-Chain Dynamics, Environmental Issues, and Manufacturing Firms," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 29(7), pages 1257-1274, July.
    10. Carter, Chris & Clegg, Stewart & Wåhlin, Nils, 2011. "When science meets strategic realpolitik: The case of the Copenhagen UN climate change summit," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 22(7), pages 682-697.
    11. Morgane Le Breton & Franck Aggeri, 2016. "The regulation of CSR by means of transparency standards," Post-Print hal-01368035, HAL.
    12. Antonio Corvino & Silvio Bianchi Martini & Federica Doni, 2021. "Extinction accounting and accountability: Empirical evidence from the west European tissue industry," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(5), pages 2556-2570, July.
    13. Schilizzi, Steven & Lesourd, Jean-Baptiste, 2001. "Accounting systems and environmental decision making: what costs, what benefits?," 2001 Conference (45th), January 23-25, 2001, Adelaide, Australia 125929, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    14. Olivier Boiral & Yves Gendron, 2011. "Sustainable Development and Certification Practices: Lessons Learned and Prospects," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(5), pages 331-347, July.

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