Sustainability Accounting and Accountability

Learning Outcome 1: Use sustainability accounting tools and techniques to aid decision making within organisations.

Learning Outcome 2: Critically assess and engage with the limitations of traditional accounting model.

Learning Outcome 3: Discuss an alternative form of accounting which addresses the social and environmental performance of organisations.

Coursework - Sustainability Accounting Case Study

Task Details: Gray (2010) 1 stressed, ‘most business reporting on sustainability and much business representative activity around sustainability actually have little, if anything to do with sustainability... Indeed, these accounts might most easily be interpreted as how organisations would like to understand sustainability and how, in turn, it would convenience them if the body politic would accede to such a view. In doing so, business is in the process of constructing the dominant discourse around sustainability but in a way which - at best - ignores discourse in both the development literature and the development community as well as the growing body of scientific consensus' (p48).

Required:

Within the context of the sustainability report of an organisation of your choice, you are required to critically discuss Gray's (2010) statement. Your essay should draw upon relevant academic literature and discuss a theoretical framework that could be used to support your argument.

Your essay should conclude by discussing the extent to which you agree/disagree with Gray's (2010) statement.

Presentation Requirements:

The essay is to be submitted electronically via Blackboard on or before 16/12/2022 by 12.00 noon (UK Time) and should not exceed 2,000 words (word count should be included in the front cover of the assignment). The essay should be typed using Times New Roman font size 12, single spaced and on both sides of the paper. Essays should cite and reference academic journal articles. Please pay attention to the structure of the essay. Your essay should include a title page and a bibliography, which includes the full reference for all articles, books, and other sources you have cited in the body of the text.

Article: Is accounting for sustainability actually accounting for sustainability...and how would we know? An exploration of narratives of organisations and the planet