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Experiences of sustainability assessment: An awkward adolescence

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  • Frame, Bob
  • Cavanagh, Jo

Abstract

Accounting for sustainability is approaching its (metaphoric) teenage years – keen to assert independence, yet still reliant on the security of its background disciplines and not quite mature enough to make its own judgements. One example is the Sustainability Assessment Model, a full-cost-accounting tool that monetizes externalities. This paper examines its application in case studies where it faced issues over assessment boundaries, data limitations, and stakeholder engagement. There is much development needed, especially around engagement and externalities, before such techniques can achieve independent lives of their own away from their research-based caregivers.

Suggested Citation

  • Frame, Bob & Cavanagh, Jo, 2009. "Experiences of sustainability assessment: An awkward adolescence," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 195-208.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:accfor:v:33:y:2009:i:3:p:195-208
    DOI: 10.1016/j.accfor.2008.07.007
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Jeffrey Unerman & Jan Bebbington & Brendan O’dwyer, 2018. "Corporate reporting and accounting for externalities," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(5), pages 497-522, July.
    3. Bebbington, Jan & Larrinaga, Carlos, 2014. "Accounting and sustainable development: An exploration," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 395-413.
    4. Andrea B. Coulson & Michael O. Rivett & Robert M. Kalin & Sergio M. P. Fernández & Jonathan P. Truslove & Muthi Nhlema & Joseph Maygoya, 2021. "The Cost of a Sustainable Water Supply at Network Kiosks in Peri-Urban Blantyre, Malawi," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-18, April.
    5. Xing, Yangang & Horner, R. Malcolm W. & El-Haram, Mohamed A. & Bebbington, Jan, 2009. "A framework model for assessing sustainability impacts of urban development," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 209-224.
    6. Thomson, Ian & Grubnic, Suzana & Georgakopoulos, Georgios, 2014. "Exploring accounting-sustainability hybridisation in the UK public sector," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 453-476.
    7. Clément Feger & Laurent Mermet, 2017. "A blueprint towards accounting for the management of ecosystems," Post-Print hal-01930913, HAL.
    8. Jones, Michael John, 2010. "Accounting for the environment: Towards a theoretical perspective for environmental accounting and reporting," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 123-138.
    9. Nick Sciulli, 2011. "The views of managers from a local coastal council on sustainability reporting issues," Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 8(2), pages 139-160, June.
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