IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eme/jaocpp/jaoc-10-2013-0083.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Gatekeepers of sustainability information: exploring the roles of accountants

Author

Listed:
  • Stefan Schaltegger
  • Dimitar Zvezdov

Abstract

Purpose - – This paper aims to, with the continuous take-up of sustainability issues by companies and with the growing experience companies gain in dealing with this topic, raise the question of whether accountants are involved in the corporate practice of managing sustainability information, and if yes, what their role is. The actual involvement of accountants in corporate environmental and sustainability management has merely been investigated to date. Design/methodology/approach - – Based on 58 in-depth interviews with corporate practitioners, this paper, first, explores the roles in the sustainability accounting practice in companies which are considered to be leading in sustainability reporting in the UK and Germany. Second, the role of accountants is analysed from a power theory perspective. Findings - – The main findings suggest that accountants are partially involved in sustainability accounting practice but mainly exert a gate-keeping role between sustainability managers and higher management. The findings raise questions of how to better involve accountants in earlier steps of the sustainability management accounting process. Research limitations/implications - – The explorative research is based on interviews in European companies considered to be among the leaders in sustainability reporting. Practical implications - – Empirically investigating the role of accountants can help improve sustainability accounting practice and education. Should it turn out that the accountants have no other option but to act as gatekeepers, accounting education will play a major role in overcoming this deficiency in the pursuit of improved sustainability knowledge and performance. If, on the other hand, it is the defensive stance of accountants and the fear of losing power in corporate structures which motivates them to act as gatekeepers, mechanisms to motivate them to cooperate should be researched. Social implications - – The paper empirically investigates and discusses the accountant’s contribution to sustainability information management. This can help overcome organisational challenges impeding companies to successfully implement sustainability measures. Originality/value - – The paper investigates and discusses the accountant’s contribution to sustainability information management. The empirical analysis is based on a framework to identify different roles in sustainability accounting. Two possible development paths for a stronger constructive involvement of accountants are identified – to improve sustainability education for accountants if lack of sustainability knowledge is a major obstacle, and/or to improve incentives and structures motivating accountants to contribute with their information management expertise on all steps of the sustainability accounting process.

Suggested Citation

  • Stefan Schaltegger & Dimitar Zvezdov, 2015. "Gatekeepers of sustainability information: exploring the roles of accountants," Journal of Accounting & Organizational Change, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 11(3), pages 333-361, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:eme:jaocpp:jaoc-10-2013-0083
    DOI: 10.1108/JAOC-10-2013-0083
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JAOC-10-2013-0083/full/html?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers

    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JAOC-10-2013-0083/full/pdf?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1108/JAOC-10-2013-0083?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Li, Bin, 2024. "Leading role of natural resources, eco-efficiency assessment, and energy transition in environmental sustainability: A depth of digital transformation," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    2. Chiara Mio & Luciana Oranges Cezarino, 2023. "Competencies for Sustainable Development Goals Accounting: Educating public management for disclosure and reporting," MANAGEMENT CONTROL, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2023(2 Suppl.), pages 133-160.
    3. Daniela Artemisa Calu & Adriana Ana Maria Davidescu & Alina Mihaela Irimescu & Corina-Graziella Batca Dumitru & Viorel Avram, 2023. "Implementation of Energy Efficiency Improvement Measures in Romania and the Role of Professional Accountants," The AMFITEATRU ECONOMIC journal, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 25(63), pages 479-479, April.
    4. Maria-Silvia Fota & Nicoleta-Elena Cristea & Alexandru Ureche & Nadia Albu, 2024. "Accountants' Competencies for Sustainability Reporting: An Exploratory Study," Journal of Accounting and Management Information Systems, Faculty of Accounting and Management Information Systems, The Bucharest University of Economic Studies, vol. 23(2), pages 446-460, June.
    5. Vicky Ching Gu, 2023. "How independent should a board be? Examine the corporate social responsibility performance in the US healthcare sector," Service Business, Springer;Pan-Pacific Business Association, vol. 17(3), pages 695-721, September.
    6. Vanini, Ute & Bochert, Saskia, 2024. "Integration of sustainability issues into management accounting textbooks," Journal of Accounting Education, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eme:jaocpp:jaoc-10-2013-0083. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Emerald Support (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.