The role of accounting for sustainability

The presentation will be based on a report which is to be published in the report series “Styrning, organisering och ledning” at the Faculty of Textiles, Engineering and Business. The report has been presented and discussed in a research group at the faculty. The report will form the basis for the construction of research questions and a selection of empirical settings for further research with the ambition to get 1-3 articles published in scientific journals.In this report we address the challenges and problems but also the possibilities of accounting as a phenomena in being a part of sustainable development in society.  We describe the present practice of sustainability accounting, with a focus on external reporting, and its lack of ability to reflect sustainability or non-sustainability. We also problematize around the ability of sustainability accounting to reflect a more ethical accountability/responsibility and to identify problems in financial, environmental and social aspects.The purpose of the report is, facing accounting practice of today, to identify challenges and possibilities in the development of a more relevant accounting that reflects material activities, ambitions and results of an organization in the three dimensions of sustainable development. An overall purpose is to identify a possible direction of accounting to become an important actor in striving for a more sustainable society.The report focuses on the defaults of present sustainability accounting practice in reflecting the result of an organization´s sustainability actions and the lack of connection between the sustainability accounting and the organization´s strategies. Another obstacle for accounting to become an important actor for sustainability is the lack of connection to the definition of sustainable development. The framework of financial accounting in public companies and, in many aspects, a de-coupled sustainability accounting without obvious relevance for making decisions, internally and externally, could be a barrier in the development of accounting for sustainable development. For accounting to become an important part in this development a more pluralistic approach and a more ethical oriented accounting is suggested to reflect a wider/broadened accountability.