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Introduction
The Paris Agreement set out to limit the global temperature increase to 1.50.Article 2.1 (a) of the Paris Agreement states the goal of ‘holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 20 C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.50 C above pre-industrial levels, recognizing that this would significantly reduce the risks and impacts of climate change’. COP26 (2021) Glasgow, UK set out a strategic action plan to accelerate global actions and international efforts on climate change to reduce emissions across the world. Mitigation, adaptation, finance and collaboration are the four pillars. The 2023 UN Climate Change Conference(UNFCCC), more commonly referred to as COP28 (30th November -12th December 2023, UAE) is the 28th United Nations Climate Change conference. Climate change mitigation is action to limit climate change by either reduces emissions of greenhouse gases or removes those gases from the atmosphere. Climate change and governance open the debate at public sphere. The challenge of climate change has also motivated the financial markets to pay more attention to green finance and green investment (Al Mamun et al., 2022; Cepni et al., 2023 ). However, there is a need for multidisciplinary lenses that deepened our knowledge regarding the reform in the current governance structure and the role of accounting and finance in tackling social and environmental issues.
The International Sustainability Standards Board announced in December 2022 the intension to incorporate water, biodiversity and ecosystems into future standards as harmony with the Task Force for Nature-Related Financial Disclosures (TNFD). The existing debates in accounting research mainstream is relevant to individual SGDs serve as an initial platform between SDGs and the accounting discipline, meanwhile the SDGs focus offers new paradigms for empirical studies including interdisciplinary investigations as well as encourage innovation in accounting theoretical perspectives. SDGs including climate change and governance issues provide contextual platform re- revitalising accounting’s contribution to sustainable development(Bebbington and Unerman, 2018). Prior studies contributed to the debates on corporate Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) performance through various theoretical lenses using conceptual and empirical paradigms. Applying multidisciplinary thinking to ESG issues may create new dialogical lenses/ philosophy among researchers towards more authentic engagements that likely to contribute the current issues on sustainability accounting, sustainable finance and governance. Sustainability accounting and governance issues have preeminent place in the socio-economic and political agenda reflecting increased stakeholders’ concern.
Recent debates on accounting, governance and sustainability articulated the need to deepen the understanding of corporate discourse on their actions and strategic choices on current ESG challenges and raised a call toward a broadened understanding of organisations’ accountability regarding sustainability issues (Brown et al., 2015, Alkaraan and Floyd, 2020; Alawattage et al., 2021; Alkaraan et al., 2023). The extant literature has witnessed ample body of insights into corporate business model transformation and sustainability disclosure practices (Alkaraan et al., 2022; Gupta et al., 2023; Alkaraan et al., 2023; Liu et al., 2023). Digitalisation has pervasive impact on business activities, economy and society. Accounting systems have also shifted their implications using digital platforms in financial, cost and management accounting practices. Yet, digital technologies created challenges and opportunities for accounting and control systems (Bhimani and Willcocks, 2014; Bhimani, 2021).
Empirical research on sustainability accounting and governance towards corporate commitment to climate change and ecosystem has scratched only the surface, the interdependencies between these constructs are not widely empirically examined yet.
The purpose of this special issue is to offer opportunity for scholars regarding drawing on various theoretical lenses and authentic engagements to contribute to the extant literature. We invite researchers to contribute to this interdisciplinary perspective through utilizing quantitative, qualitative or mixed method approaches to investigate the fascinating topics underpinning the call for this special issue.
Submissions are invited on, but not limited to, the following topics:
• The impact of sustainability accounting on ESG performance.
• Corporate disclosure on SDGs and sustainability accounting.
• Carbon accounting, budgeting and control and their influence on strategic investment decision making and ESG performance.
• Accounting for waste management, water management and biodiversity and their influence on sustainability.
• Environmental management accounting and control system.
• Big data analytics and sustainable accounting reporting quality.
• Accounting for specific social issues including heath and safety and their influence on sustainability.
• The influence of digitalisation on management accounting and control system
• Accounting for customers and other stakeholder
• Accounting for human capital
• Auditing of sustainable performance
• Towards sustainable public sector accounting and budgeting.
• Nexus between Industry 4.0, sustainability accounting and sustainable performance
• The influence of eco-innovation capability on business model transformation towards net zero economy.
• The influence of corporate governance mechanisms on climate-related disclosure.
• Green finance and corporate commitment to climate initiatives.
• Climate-related risk assessment and sustainable investment decision-making
• The influence of governance structure on corporate strategic investment decisions towards net zero economy.
Submission Information
Submissions are made using ScholarOne Manuscripts. Author guidelines must be strictly followed.
Authors should select (from the drop-down menu) the special issue title at the appropriate step in the submission process, i.e. in response to "Please select the issue you are submitting to”. Submitted articles must not have been previously published, nor should they be under consideration for publication anywhere else, while under review for this journal.
Guest Editors
Fadi Alkaraan, Associate Professor of Accounting, Governance & Sustainability, University of Lincoln.
Khaled Hussainey, Professor of Accounting, Bangor University.
Catriona Hyde, Associate Professor in Accounting and Finance, University of Lincoln.
Hao Quach, Professor of Banking and Finance, University of Lincoln.
Deadline for submission 31st December 2024
References
Alawattage, C., Arjaliès, D. L., Barrett, M., Bernard, J., de Castro Casa Nova, S. P., Cho, C. H., ... & Sorola, M. (2021). Opening accounting: A manifesto. Accounting Forum, 45 (3), p. 227-246, https://doi.org/10.1080/01559982.2021.1952685
Alkaraan, F., Elmarzouky, M., Hussainey, K., Venkatesh, VG. (2023). Sustainable strategic investment decision-making practices in UK companies: the influence of governance mechanisms on synergy between Industry 4.0 and circular economy. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 187 ,122187, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2022.122187
Alkaraan, F., Albahloul, M. and Hussainey, K. (2023). Carillion's strategic choices and the boardroom's strategies of persuasive appeals: ethos, logos and pathos, Journal of Applied Accounting Research, https://doi.org/10.1108/JAAR-06-2022-0134
Alkaraan, F. and Floyd, D. (2020). Rethinking of the UK strategic public decision: outsourcing accountability and governance perspectives, Strategic Change, 29(6), p. 625-632. https://doi.org/10.1002/jsc.2370
Al Mamun, M., Boubaker, S., and Nguyen, D. K. (2022). Green finance and decarbonization: Evidence from around the world. Finance Research Letters, 46, 102807.
Bebbington, J. and Unerman, J. (2018). Achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: An enabling role for accounting research, Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 31 (1), p. 2-24. https://doi.org/10.1108/AAAJ-05-2017-2929
Bebbington, J., Brown, J., Frame, B., and Thomson, I. (2007). Theorizing engagement: The potential of a critical dialogic approach. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 20(3), p. 356–381.
Bebbington, J. and Gray, R. (2001). An account of sustainability: failure, success and reconceptualization, Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 2(5), p.557-588.
Brown, J., Dillard, J. and Hopper, T. (2015). Accounting, accountants and accountability regimes in pluralistic societies: Taking multiple perspectives seriously, Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 8(5) p. 626-650. https://doi.org/10.1108/AAAJ-03-2015-1996
Bhimani, A. (2021). Accounting Disrupted: How Digitalization Is Changing Finance, ISBN: 978-1-119-72006-5.
Brigham, M., Kiosse, P. V., Otley, D. (2023). A structured framework to understand CSR decision-making: A case study of multiple rationales, European Management Journal, 41(3), p. 345-35, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2022.04.001
Cepni, O., Demirer, R., Pham, L., and Rognone, L. (2023). Climate uncertainty and information transmissions across the conventional and ESG assets. Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, 101730.
Gupta, B. B., Gaurav, A., Panigrahi, P. K., & Arya, V. (2023). Analysis of artificial intelligence-based technologies and approaches on sustainable entrepreneurship. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 186, 122152. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2022.122152
Liu, Y. S., X. Zhou., J. H. Yang, A. G. F Hoepner, N. Kakabadse (2023). Carbon emissions, carbon disclosure and organizational performance, International Review of Financial Analysis, 90, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.irfa.2023.102846
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