Purpose – The purpose of this research is to seek to understand and explain the non‐governmental organisation (NGO) and its location in civil society in order to provide a basis for future research work. The paper aims to explore and develop understandings of accountability specifically in...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to contribute to discussions about engagement in social and environmental accounting, drawing on dialogic theory and philosophy. A dialogic approach, building on existing critical inquiries, is introduced to derive principles to inform “on the ground”...

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to respond to commentaries on Bebbington, Larrinaga‐Gonzales and Moneva, by Unerman and by Adams, published in Accounting Auditing & Accountability Journal , Vol. 21 No. 3. Design/methodology/approach – The paper reviews and discusses the points...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to document organizations' self descriptions of why they initiated sustainable development (SD) reporting and explore these explanations using an institutional theory framework. Design/methodology/approach – Constructs organizational narratives from...

Develops a case for the enabling potential of environmental accounting (EA). Investigates three areas to support this case. The first concerns the manner in which EA actively and critically engages with practice in an attempt to change practice along lines that are more socially and...

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 – This paper seeks to create the context within which research into how higher education institutions (HEIs) might engage with the goal of sustainable development. In particular, the paper outlines the context in which papers in a special section on this topic might be understood as...