Purpose This study aims to examine whether an emancipatory action research (EAR) intervention can move accounting education beyond technical rationality and foster ethically reflexive professional identities aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Design/methodology/approach Drawing on Bourdieu’s theory of social reproduction, a semester-long intervention was implemented in a postgraduate management accounting unit (156 students). It combined an ethically ambiguous case study, dialogic engagement using visual prompts and revised assessment criteria that valued ethical as well as technical reasoning. Data from written submissions, semi-structured interviews and classroom observations were analysed thematically and interpreted through a Bourdieusian lens. Findings The intervention created moments of reflexive questioning that challenged entrenched technical reasoning, encouraging students to engage in forms of judgement that extended beyond calculative, compliance-orientated thinking towards broader consideration of stakeholders and social consequences. Six themes emerged that distinguished legal from ethical reasoning: recognising the difference between legality and ethics; critiquing profit-maximisation logics; prioritising long-term community well-being; broadening stakeholder sensitivity; integrating sustainability considerations; and expressing ambivalence indicative of reflexive engagement. The case-based, dialogic approach also contributed to the symbolic recognition of ethical engagement alongside technical competence. Research limitations/implications As a single qualitative case, the study invites longitudinal, cross-institutional and cross-cultural studies, the development of approaches for tracing provisional ethical reflexivity over time and examination of how such dispositions may translate into professional practice. Practical implications Findings support the embedding of ethics across management accounting curricula, redesigning assessment to recognise ethical and sustainability considerations and the adoption of dialogic pedagogies. The findings also suggest the importance of recognising ethical reflexivity as a core professional competence. Social implications Cultivating reflexive engagement with ethical and social consequences can better prepare professionals to balance organisational imperatives with sustainability, contributing to SDG 4 (Quality Education) and SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production). Originality/value The study provides empirical insight into how critical pedagogy operationalised through EAR can invite reflexive questioning of technical rationality and reposition ethical reasoning as symbolic capital within the field of accounting education.
Purpose This study aims to explore the enabling role of the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions’ (INTOSAI) Development Initiative (IDI) to audit sustainable development goals (SDGs) and embed public value thinking within a transitional Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) context of the Western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia). Design/methodology/approach The paper is built on a qualitative research design; empirical data were obtained by conducting ad hoc interviews with IDI experts on SDGs auditing and auditing experts in the Western Balkans, complemented with secondary data analysis. To analyse the empirical data, the authors applied Moore’s Strategic Triangle (1995, 2013), which offers a more nuanced perspective on what constitutes value-driven public accountability, legitimacy, trust and the operational capacity of a transitional SAIs context. Findings The transition from compliance-based to performance auditing, including the more recent and more complex practice of SDGs auditing, is becoming more broadly institutionalised across many transitional SAIs contexts, including the Western Balkans. The authors presented IDI’s enabling role in supporting SAIs in emerging economies in their SDGs auditing by enhancing their professional capacity, institutional legitimacy and accountability mechanisms. Still, the authors also empirically observe that the shift towards public value orientation, focused on legitimacy, trust, professional capacity, collective outcomes and societal well-being, remains at an early stage in the Western Balkans. It also reveals that public value creation involves balancing competing demands, reconciling global expectations with national priorities and reforms and navigating resource asymmetries and competing stakeholders’ expectations. Originality/value This paper contributes by offering a nuanced perspective on the conceptual and empirical development of SDGs auditing within transitional SAIs contexts. It highlights IDI’s enabling role in supporting SAIs in transitional contexts to embed public value thinking into their audit frameworks, while maintaining methodological rigour and adherence to internationally recognised sustainability assurance standards.
Purpose The authors examine whether mergers and acquisitions (M&A) deals motivated by circular economy (CE) purposes generate superior postdeal financial performance for acquirers and how due diligence activities conducted by buyers act as an explanatory mechanism. This study aims to build on competing conjectures regarding whether CE-oriented deals lead to superior performance because the inherent complexity of circular business models requires more extensive due diligence scrutiny, or because value-increasing outcomes can be achieved through a facilitated and faster evaluation process, driven by signaling reliability and the perceived trustworthiness associated with ethical and sustainability-oriented practices. Design/methodology/approach The study analyzes a sample of 2,877 European M&A transactions completed between 2012 and 2023. CE-oriented deals are identified through textual analysis of deal information. The authors use ordinary least squares regressions and mediation models to test the association between deal circularity, acquirers’ postdeal financial performance and the duration of the due diligence process. Findings The authors find that CE-oriented deals are associated with higher acquirers’ financial performance, but only in the medium-to-long term and that these deals are characterized by longer due diligence periods, which positively mediate the association between circular orientation of the M&A deal and acquirers’ postdeal performance. Practical implications The findings suggest that due diligence in sustainability-linked corporate decisions should be viewed as economically meaningful rather than a costly procedural delay. Originality/value The evidence supports the view that the complexity of circular business models requires more extensive predeal verification, which is also value-increasing for buyers. Thus, whereas CE is relevant in the M&A setting, the study hints the idea that the performance gains stem from deeper information acquisition rather than reduced information frictions.
Purpose This study aims to provide an empirical analysis of the use of information by Italian regional politicians, examining the functions and timing of information use while highlighting role-based differences. Design/methodology/approach Forty interviews of regional politicians, including members of regional cabinets and councils from both majority and opposition parties, were conducted and analyzed through a thematic analysis. Findings The study identified distinct patterns: all politicians use information with purposeful and legitimation functions, yet only councilors, primarily those in opposition, use it for delegitimation and blaming. While majority councilors and cabinet members concentrate their information use in specific periods of the year, opposition councilors tend to use information continuously throughout the year. Originality/value The study contributes to the literature by offering a comprehensive framework of the different functions and timings of information use according to politicians’ roles within Italian regional governments.
Purpose This study aims to examine how governments construct accountability through post-disaster budget estimates and budget speeches following major earthquakes. It explores how accountability narratives communicate responsibility, collective obligation and credibility within post-disaster budget communications under conditions of uncertainty. Design/methodology/approach Focusing on New Zealand, the study analyses 42 budget estimates and 10 budget speeches issued between 2011 and 2025 that reference earthquake response and recovery. A qualitative narrative analysis is used to identify patterns of individualising accountability (IA), socialising accountability (SA) and impression management, including their hybrid configurations, across policy domains, communicative forums and political orientations. Findings Post-disaster budget narratives are predominantly hybrid. Accountability is most frequently articulated through IA-SA and IA-impression management combinations that integrate personal responsibility, collective obligation and claims of competence and commitment. Hybridisation is most pronounced in budget speeches, while budget estimates retain more differentiated accountability registers. Policy-domain effects are evident: mental health narratives are dominated by IA-centred hybrids embedded within collective care frames; housing narratives rely more heavily on SA and SA-impression management combinations; and hardship assistance privileges SA while minimising individualisation. Political orientation also shapes these patterns: National-led governments emphasise performance, control and fiscal discipline, whereas Labour-led governments place greater emphasis on well-being, collective responsibility and moral appeals. Practical implications For practitioners, the results suggest that effective post-disaster budgeting should balance personal responsibility, collective obligation and credible communication of recovery commitments while avoiding excessive individualisation of systemic risks and maintaining sensitivity to equity, inclusion and long-term resilience. Originality/value This study develops the concept of hybrid accountability grammars to explain how governments combine IA, SA and impression management within budget communications. It extends public sector accountability and disaster accounting research by demonstrating how accountability narratives are selectively configured across policy domains, communicative forums and political orientations in post-disaster recovery settings.
