Sustainability – in the sense of a system of deep‐rooted social justice and a fair and responsible allocation and use of ecological resources – requires a political philosophy adequate to its unique task in effecting change. Traditional Cartesian epistemes, that rely on formalistic policy...

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to explore whether there is any relationship(s) between social and environmental disclosure and the financial market performance of the UK's largest companies. Design/methodology/approach – Two data sets were used in the study. The CSEAR database of UK...

Purpose – The objective of this essay is to examine the extent to which social, environmental and sustainability accounting and reporting (SEA) can or should contribute to shareholder value and, correspondingly, to consider the challenge that SEA can offer to the conventional views of...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to revisit the special issue of Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal which was published in 1991 and which sought to stimulate the “green accounting” debate, to evaluate that issue and, in particular, to examine what we might learn about the...

Addresses three related, though not entirely congruent, aims. Seeks, first, to initiate moves towards a “normative theory” ‐ a conceptual framework ‐ for the developing of social accounting by organizations. Second, aims inductively to draw out best practice from a range of social...

Social and environmental issues have become a central part of the academic accounting subject field. Examines the range of papers in this area at the APIRA conference. Indicates some of the pitfalls – empiricism, theoretical awareness, relevance to practice, communication between academics –...

Purpose – In responding to prior critiques, the paper seeks to re‐examine social accounting as a problem focused, multi‐disciplinary field and explores some of the possible directions the emerging field might take. Design/methodology/approach – The approach taken is a discursive,...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to revisit the special issue of Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal which was published in 1991 and which sought to stimulate the “green accounting” debate, to evaluate that issue and, in particular, to examine what we might learn about the...