A “green” accountant is difficult to find: Can accountants contribute to sustainability management initiatives?
Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal
ISSN: 0951-3574
Article publication date: 26 June 2018
Issue publication date: 11 September 2018
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to empirically explore how accountants can contribute to organisational sustainability initiatives.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper adopts a critical case study methodology, focused on a large Australian company in which senior management sought to engage accounting staff in an internal sustainability reporting initiative focused on eco-efficiency. Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus, capitals and field enable a relational analysis of the findings.
Findings
While accountants adapted well to early changes aligned to cost efficiency, they struggled to engage with more creative sustainability improvements. The paper explains both adaptions and constraints as interactions between accountants’ professional habitus, capitals and their broader organisational field. Prior strategies to engage accountants (e.g. training) only partially address these factors.
Practical implications
The accounting profession has persistently urged members to contribute to organisational sustainability initiatives. This paper provides insight into how organisations might combine professional acculturation and appropriate capitals to advance this agenda.
Social implications
Although eco-efficiency is only one potential element of comprehensive organisational sustainability management, the paper’s insights into engaging accountants contributes to understanding how broader social sustainability agendas might be advanced.
Originality/value
The study addresses calls for empirical insights into how accountants can contribute to corporate sustainability practices. Prior studies have polarised between interpreting accountants as either enablers or barriers to sustainability change. This paper explores how shifting configurations of habitus, capital and organisational field can enable either outcome.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge and thank staff at the anonymised case study organisation for their access and assistance. The authors would also like to thank attendants at the Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Accounting Conference held in July 2015 in Stockholm, and Professor David Campbell, Dr Claudia Gabbioneta, and others at the Newcastle Business School, for comments and advice provided on earlier drafts of this paper.
Citation
Egan, M. and Tweedie, D. (2018), "A “green” accountant is difficult to find: Can accountants contribute to sustainability management initiatives?", Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 31 No. 6, pp. 1749-1773. https://doi.org/10.1108/AAAJ-03-2017-2891
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited