PurposeThe aim of this paper is to explore the dynamics of accountability in biodiversity offsetting within the context of the Anthropocene. It seeks to examine how compensation agencies operate and how they respond to external pressures through internally generated accountability mechanisms.Design/methodology/approachFocusing on the German setting, this paper draws on 26 semi-structured interviews conducted with representatives of compensation agencies and key stakeholders within the sector, such as nature conservation authorities, policy makers, environmental NGOs and experts. Due to the novelty of the empirical setting, an inductive approach was adopted in undertaking the analysis.FindingsThe data revealed two interdependent regimes of accountability, one externally imposed and one internally generated. The findings demonstrate how internally generated accountability regimes can substitute for externally imposed accountability regimes where these are lacking. The findings highlight that tensions and interdependence between accountability regimes foster responsible conduct beyond mere compliance, emphasising ethical decision-making.Originality/valueThis research pioneers an exploration into accountability dynamics within biodiversity offsetting organisations. This paper contributes to an understanding of new environmental governance and accountability challenges which emerge in the Anthropocene. It explores the dynamics between intrinsic motivation and external pressures within a sector of growing importance, entrusted with addressing biodiversity loss.

Can measuring and valuing the impact of business on society and the planet lead to a more environmentally and socially oriented style of capitalism? This is the main hope and assertion of corporate environmental and social impact measurement and valuation (IMV), which calls on organizations to measure their positive and negative impacts on their stakeholders and the environment and to subsequently translate them into monetary units. This curated dialog critically examines the components of this concept—environmental and social impact, its measurement, and its monetary valuation—by bringing together leading experts in the field who discuss the opportunities and risks of IMV. The purpose of this article is to place IMV under deep investigation and envision new ways that work with, complement, or replace organizations’ desire for management via quantification and financialization.

The concept of materiality has acquired great significance in sustainability reporting. Through the theoretical bricolage of boundary objects and boundary work and drawing upon 91 interviews, we trace materiality's evolving role across four interconnected episodes. Our findings show that materiality begins as a multivisionary object that draws the attention of largely unconnected groups. As different actors become more aware of each other, materiality becomes a meeting point object, and then a discursive and bridge-like object for them to talk about their relationships. However, the subsequent escalation of competitive boundary work turns materiality into a divisive institutional object that inhibits cooperation. Moving beyond a view of materiality as a way to distinguish significant information within corporate reports, our analysis fleshes out the visionary and relational roles that materiality has performed in sustainability reporting for a broad range of field-level actors to see themselves and their relationships to others in new lights.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the dynamic relationship between formal and non-formal processes of accountability in a public services context.Design/methodology/approachThe paper presents a case study of the impact of the Health and Social Care Act (2012) on the practices of Health and Wellbeing Board (HWB) members. It draws upon multiple data sources, including in-depth interviews with the members, comprehensive archival data published by the HWB (2011-2019), and observations of HWB public meetings. We utilise the concept of dynamic duality (Li, 2008) to further theorise the relationship between formal and non-formal processes of accountability and how they mutually transform one another.FindingsThe case illustrates the role of formal and non-formal processes of accountability at a HWB in England. Moreover, the case study reveals the relationship and interaction between the formal and non-formal accountability processes and how they change and transform each other over time. We find that whilst non-formal accountability processes were strengthened by a historical legacy of partnership working, over time the dynamics at play led to the development of formal accountability processes through more sophisticated performance systems, which in turn transformed non-formal accountability processes.Originality/valueThe paper presents a more holistic conceptualisation than articulated in prior accountability literature, dynamic duality, on the relationship between formal and non-formal accountability processes. Through application of this conceptualisation to a HWB in England, the paper spotlights the inter-relationship between formal and non-formal processes of accountability, and how they have the potential to transform each over an extended time-period.

Over the last twenty years sustainability reporting standards and frameworks have developed and proliferated. In this chapter we provide an overview of a range of the most influential frameworks before focussing upon how they each conceptualise materiality. We do so as we believe that materiality is core to the practice of sustainability reporting. We conclude that materiality remains ambiguous and contested. The sustainability context is complex, and it is, therefore, problematic to seek simple solutions to the questions as to who are the key users and what is the material content for sustainability reporting. This is especially apparent given the interconnected and long-term nature of the sustainability issues that we face. We argue that it is the (stakeholder) accountability purpose, rather than the valuation and stewardship roles, that should be paramount in materiality determination processes.

The UK government passed the Health and Social Care Act in 2012, and a key element of this legislation was the introduction of Health and Wellbeing Boards (HWBs) in local government. HWBs were argued to have the potential to both improve democratic accountability and give greater autonomy to health and social care leaders to strengthen local health outcomes. This paper explores how members of HWBs construct and discharge accountability for better health outcomes to a local population. We find that there are multiple types of accountability present and that democratic accountability can be complemented by and compete with other types of accountability.

Article impact statement: New collaborations with accounting research can improve conservation impact of ecosystem-based information systems.

The Health and Social Care Act (2012) required the creation of Health and Wellbeing Boards (HWBs) to provide strategic leadership for health outcomes for localities across England. It was suggested that HWBs would enhance democratic accountability and provide a forum for key leaders to come together from across the health and social care systems. This research explores the extent to which HWBs have, or have not, enhanced democratic accountability through the use of strategic planning and performance information. The study is informed by a total of 41 interviews with experts and members of two HWBs, and supplemented by extensive documentary evidence including the Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy and Joint Strategic Needs Assessment from both boards, and performance information. A key finding of the study is that understanding of what is meant by democratic accountability was variable across the interviewees. Many interviewees felt that their key obligation was directly to their local public rather than being held accountable through the political process. The low level of public engagement with HWBs also suggests that democratic accountability is indirect and limited. However, many members of the HWBs also recognised that they felt multiple accountabilities, with tensions between different accountability types.

Corporate social performance has come of age. In a business environment characterized by its perpetual state of flux, the ability to recognize and react to global forces becomes paramount. The fallout of such rapid change - the fast-paced developments in communications and technology, the continual change to global markets, shifting demographics, the homogenization of personal values - have all contributed to the widespread new interest in issues such as ecology and environment, human rights and diversity, health and well-being, and communities. All of these issues are now potential liabilities for companies, and are very much back on the agenda for business. Once regarded as peripheral management concerns, they are now recognized as hard to predict and hard for business to deal with when they go wrong. This book offers an insight into how corporate social performance can be measured and why this is an important aspect of corporate social responsibility. Using detailed case studies, it provides readers with the foundations for understanding and applying corporate social performance, providing a stakeholder framework by which corporate social performance can be measured, alongside a detailed consideration of the value of different stakeholder measures. The book also applies this framework to new social accounting standards, enabling the reader to consider the validity and appropriateness of these standards. The increasingly important role of the internet for corporate social reporting is also considered.

"Financial reporting and business communication 22nd annual conference University of Bristol, 5th–6th July 2018." Accounting and Business Research, 48(1), pp. 136–137

Our research examines a key aspect of the extensive bureaucratic reform program that was applied to the Indonesian public sector following the Asian Economic crisis. The organisation we focus on is the Indonesian Directorate of Tax. The reforms moved the case organisation towards more bureaucratic organisational arrangements. The most notable elements of the reforms related to the organisational efficiency and changes in administrative style and culture. An ethnographic approach was adopted, in which the researcher was immersed in the life of the selected case organisation over an extended period of time. This research extends a thin literature on the topic of management control and culture in the Indonesian context. Also, this paper fills a gap in the theoretic approaches for studying bureaucracy, which is dominated by western conceptualisations. This paper provides a reminder to policy makers (including organisation such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund) of the consequences of neglecting cultural influences when conducting bureaucratic reform.

Bangladesh has recently been enjoying significant economic growth mainly arising from an export led development strategy. However, in that process its natural environment has been degraded and become more vulnerable in geophysical terms (e.g. environmental pollution). Much of the Bangladeshi population are also vulnerable in socio-economic terms due primarily to widespread poverty. In this context we ask, albeit sceptically, whether there is any chance of holding corporations to account for their environmental responsibilities. Using the notions of vulnerability and ecological rifts we answer this question by providing evidence from published sources and a series of 32 semi-structured interviews with Bangladeshi stakeholder groups. Key findings include, inter alia, corporate reluctance to take responsibility for the environmental impact of their activities. Our interviewees discuss the possibility of a role for mandatory corporate reporting in enhancing corporate accountability and we argue that this is essential if the contradictions and irrationalities of the globalized capitalist system are to be made visible. Achieving such accountability, however, will not be easy due to a lack of political will and the prohibitive costs involved. Incurring such costs could raise the dangerous prospect of Bangladesh losing business to other, less regulated, economies.

Purpose– This paper aims to clarify what ‘narrative analysis’ may entail when it is assumed that interview accounts can be treated as (collections of) narratives. What is considered a narrative and how these may be analyzed is open to debate. After suggesting an approach of how to deal with narrative analysis, the authors critically discuss how far it might offer insights into a particular accounting case.Design/methodology/approach– After having explained what the authors’ view on narrative analysis is, and how this is linked with the extant literature, the authors examine the socialisation processes of two early career accountants that have been articulated in an interview context.Findings– The approach to narrative analysis set out in this paper could help to clarify how and why certain interpretations from an interview are generated by a researcher. The authors emphasise the importance of discussing a researcher’s process of discovery when an interpretive approach to research is adopted.Research limitations/implications– The application of any method, and what a researcher thinks can be distilled from this, depends on the research outlook he/she has. As the authors adopt an interpretive approach to research in this paper, they acknowledge that the interpretations of narratives, and what they deem to be narratives, will be infused by their own perceptions.Practical implications– The authors believe that the writing-up of qualitative research from an interpretive stance would benefit from an explicit acceptance of the equivocal nature of interpretation. The way in which they present and discuss the narrative analyses in this paper intends to bring this to the fore.Originality/value– Whenever someone says he/she engages in narrative analysis, both the “narrative” and “analysis” part of “narrative analysis” need to be explicated. The authors believe that this only happens every so often. This paper puts forward an approach of how more clarity on this might be achieved by combining two frameworks in the extant literature, so that the transparency of the research is enhanced.

This paper aims to determine whether corporate reporting practice, consistent with impression management, changes depending upon company performance. A longitudinal analysis, rarely used in prior impression management research, enables changes in annual report disclosures, both narrative and visual, to be identified and considered relative to a company's performance. Our analysis is based upon the disclosure of leakage performance, a strategic and stakeholder issue in the water industry, by all 10 water and sewerage companies (WASCs) in England and Wales over the 7-year period 2005-2006 to 2011-2012. Our longitudinal data are also compared across companies and contrasted with the expert counter account provided by the industry regulator, OFWAT. We find that the level, nature and presentation of a WASC's leakage disclosures change markedly reflective of their performance against OFWAT's target. Our evidence shows that the changes in reporting practice include the use of tactics and presentational methods consistent with impression management, raising concerns regarding the balance and trustworthiness of voluntary disclosures in the annual report. We suggest that the International Accounting Standards Board should further consider their guidance on narrative disclosures, including presentational format, to reduce the scope for impression management within corporate reporting.

Our paper aims to contribute to the growing body of literature that has suggested that tertiary accounting education should not simply transfer technical/functional/vocational accounting knowledge. This literature suggests that a more critical accounting educational content complemented by a more dialogical teaching approach is more appropriate. Our paper provides further reflections on just such a course and the challenges that this raises. Specifically, it comments on learner resistance and engagement, syllabus design, delivery and assessment methods. In addition, this paper introduces the role that theory, secondary research and debates have played in this course. The value of this type of course, in terms of developing and transforming the learners is discussed.

Purpose– Neo-institutional theory suggests that organisations change occurs when institutional contradictions, caused by exogenous and endogenous dynamics, increase over time to the point where change can no longer be resisted. Human praxis will result, but only when sufficiently powerful interests are motivated to act. This paper aims to examine the role that the accreditation of business schools can play in increasing institutional contradictions and hence fostering organisational change towards stakeholder engagement and engagement with social responsibility and sustainability issues. Numerous accreditations are promulgated within the higher education and business school contexts and a number of these relate to, or have aspects that relate to, ethics, social responsibility and sustainability.Design/methodology/approach– The paper first analyses the take up of accreditations across UK business schools and then uses a case study to illustrate and explore stakeholder engagement and changes related to ethics, social responsibility and sustainability linked to accreditation processes.Findings– Accreditations are found to be an increasingly common interest for UK business schools. Further, a number of these accreditations have evolved to incorporate issues related to ethics, social responsibility and sustainability that may cause institutional contradictions and may, therefore, have the potential to foster organisational change. Accreditation alone, however, is not sufficient and the authors find that sufficiently powerful interests need to be motivated to act and enable human praxis to affect change.Research limitations/implications– This paper draws on previous research that considers the role of accreditation in fostering change that has also been carried out in healthcare organisations, public and professional bodies. Its findings stem from an individual case study and as such further research is required to explore whether these findings can be extended and apply more generally in business schools and universities in different contexts.Practical implications– This paper concludes by recommending that the newly established UK & Ireland Chapter of PRME encourages and supports signatory schools to further embed ethics, social responsibility and sustainability into all aspects of university life in the UK. This also provides an opportunity to engage with the accrediting bodies in order to further support the inclusion of stakeholder engagement and issues related to this agenda in their processes.Originality/value– This paper contributes by introducing accreditation as an institutional pressure that may lead indirectly to organisational change and supports this with new evidence from an illustrative case study. Further, it draws on the role of institutional contradictions and human praxis that engender organisational change.