IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/accfor/v33y2009i3p225-244.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Analysing the role of sustainable development indicators in accounting for and constructing a Sustainable Scotland

Author

Listed:
  • Russell, Shona L.
  • Thomson, Ian

Abstract

The main objective of this paper was to analyse how sustainable development indicators impacted upon the integration of sustainable development into the governing of Scotland. A major concern was whether an accounting technology could represent this complex multi-dimensional and interdisciplinary concept. We analysed the relationship between the official sustainable development strategy of the Scottish Executive and the associated indicator set using an analytics of government framework (Dean, M. (1999). Governmentality: Power and rule in modern society. London: Sage Publications. Dean, M. (2007). Governing societies. Berkshire: Open University Press). We observed a lack of alignment between these sustainable development indicators and the visions, fields of visibilities, forms of knowledge and techniques of government contained in this strategy. Critical aspects of this strategy were omitted from the indicator set and we argue that these indicators did not to effectively measure progress towards a Sustainable Scotland but that they could calculatively capture and distort the sustainable development governing process. The analytical framework used allowed us to problematise these indicators and contribute to a wider discourse on the composition and nature of sustainable development indicators.

Suggested Citation

  • Russell, Shona L. & Thomson, Ian, 2009. "Analysing the role of sustainable development indicators in accounting for and constructing a Sustainable Scotland," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 225-244.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:accfor:v:33:y:2009:i:3:p:225-244
    DOI: 10.1016/j.accfor.2008.07.008
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0155998208000495
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.accfor.2008.07.008?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rennings, Klaus & Wiggering, Hubert, 1997. "Steps towards indicators of sustainable development: Linking economic and ecological concepts," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 25-36, January.
    2. Hanley, Nick & Moffatt, Ian & Faichney, Robin & Wilson, Mike, 1999. "Measuring sustainability: A time series of alternative indicators for Scotland," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 55-73, January.
    3. Yvonne Rydin & Nancy Holman & Vicky Hands & Florian Sommer, 2003. "Incorporating sustainable development concerns into an urban regeneration project: how politics can defeat procedures," Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(4), pages 545-561.
    4. Jesse Dillard & Darrell Brown & R. Scott Marshall, 2005. "An environmentally enlightened accounting," Accounting Forum, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(1), pages 77-101, March.
    5. Miller, Peter, 1990. "On the interrelations between accounting and the state," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 315-338.
    6. Miller, Peter & O'Leary, Ted, 1987. "Accounting and the construction of the governable person," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 235-265, April.
    7. Andrew Gouldson & Jan Bebbington, 2007. "Corporations and the Governance of Environmental Risk," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 25(1), pages 4-20, February.
    8. Hoskin, Keith W. & Macve, Richard H., 1986. "Accounting and the examination: A genealogy of disciplinary power," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 105-136, March.
    9. David J. Campbell, 2000. "Legitimacy Theory or Managerial Reality Construction? Corporate Social Disclosure in Marks and Spencer Plc Corporate Reports, 1969–1997," Accounting Forum, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(1), pages 80-100, March.
    10. Rose, Nikolas, 1991. "Governing by numbers: Figuring out democracy," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 16(7), pages 673-692.
    11. P.C.R. Gray & P. M. Wiedemann, 1999. "Risk management and sustainable development: mutual lessons from approaches to the use of indicators," Journal of Risk Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 2(3), pages 201-218, July.
    12. Miller, Peter & O'Leary, Ted, 1993. "Accounting expertise and the politics of the product: Economic citizenship and modes of corporate governance," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 18(2-3), pages 187-206, April.
    13. Andrew Jordan, 2008. "The Governance of Sustainable Development: Taking Stock and Looking Forwards," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 26(1), pages 17-33, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Michele Bigoni & Zeila Occhipinti, 2023. "Early forms of accounting for sustainable development: The Grand Duchy of Tuscany in the XVI and XVII centuries," CONTABILIT? E CULTURA AZIENDALE, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 0(2), pages 9-33.
    2. Ferry, Laurence & Funnell, Warwick & Oldroyd, David, 2023. "A genealogical and archaeological examination of the development of corporate governance and disciplinary power in English local government c.1970–2010," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    3. Patrick O’Keeffe, 2018. "Creating a governable reality: analysing the use of quantification in shaping Australian wheat marketing policy," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 35(3), pages 553-567, September.
    4. Spence, Laura J. & Rinaldi, Leonardo, 2014. "Governmentality in accounting and accountability: A case study of embedding sustainability in a supply chain," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 433-452.
    5. Bebbington, Jan & Russell, Shona & Thomson, Ian, 2017. "Accounting and sustainable development: Reflections and propositions," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 21-34.
    6. Alessandro Lai & Silvia Panfilo & Riccardo Stacchezzini, 2019. "The governmentality of corporate (un)sustainability: the case of the ILVA steel plant in Taranto (Italy)," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 23(1), pages 67-109, March.
    7. Bebbington, Jan & Larrinaga, Carlos, 2014. "Accounting and sustainable development: An exploration," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 395-413.
    8. 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.
    9. Journeault, Marc & Levant, Yves & Picard, Claire-France, 2021. "Sustainability performance reporting: A technocratic shadowing and silencing," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    10. David Collison & Colin Dey & Gwen Hannah & Lorna Stevenson, 2010. "Anglo‐American capitalism: the role and potential role of social accounting," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 23(8), pages 956-981, October.
    11. Franck Aggeri & Morgane Le Breton, 2016. "Que signifie être transparent ? La régulation de la transparence : la matérialisation d’un idéal en technologie de gouvernement," Post-Print hal-01901216, HAL.
    12. Madlen Sobkowiak, 2023. "The making of imperfect indicators for biodiversity: A case study of UK biodiversity performance measurement," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 336-352, January.
    13. Thomson, Ian, 2015. "‘But does sustainability need capitalism or an integrated report’ a commentary on ‘The International Integrated Reporting Council: A story of failure’ by Flower, J," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 18-22.
    14. Max Baker, 2010. "Re‐conceiving managerial capture," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 23(7), pages 847-867, September.
    15. Chiba, Soumaya & Talbot, David & Boiral, Olivier, 2018. "Sustainability adrift: An evaluation of the credibility of sustainability information disclosed by public organizations," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 42(4), pages 328-340.
    16. Stéphanie Chatelain-Ponroy & Sophie Morin-Delerm, 2012. "The sustainable development reporting: a new organizational practice in higher education institutions ?," Post-Print halshs-00712598, HAL.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Shona L. Russell & Ian Thompson, 2008. "Accounting for a Sustainable Scotland," Public Money & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(6), pages 367-374, December.
    2. Napier, Christopher J., 2006. "Accounts of change: 30 years of historical accounting research," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 31(4-5), pages 445-507.
    3. Young, Joni J., 1995. "Getting the accounting "right": Accounting and the savings and loan crisis," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 55-80, January.
    4. 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.
    5. Neu, Dean & Ocampo Gomez, Elizabeth & Graham, Cameron & Heincke, Monica, 2006. ""Informing" technologies and the World Bank," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 31(7), pages 635-662, October.
    6. Power, Michael, 2015. "How accounting begins: object formation and the accretion of infrastructure," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 64324, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    7. Dyball, Maria Cadiz & Rooney, Jim, 2019. "Governing and disciplining Filipino migrant workers’ health at Hawaiian sugar plantations," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    8. Neu, Dean, 2006. "Accounting for public space," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 31(4-5), pages 391-414.
    9. Power, Michael, 2015. "How accounting begins: Object formation and the accretion of infrastructure," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 43-55.
    10. Constable, Philip & Kuasirikun, Nooch, 2020. "From cosmological to commercial form: A Buddhist theory of ‘form’, ‘space’ and ‘stream of re-becoming’ in mid-19th century Thai accounting," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    11. C. Richard Baker, 1999. "L'Influence Des Savants Français Sur La Recherche Comptable Anglo-Saxonne," Post-Print halshs-00587746, HAL.
    12. Jones, Michael John, 2010. "Sources of power and infrastructural conditions in medieval governmental accounting," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 81-94, January.
    13. Giovanna Centorrino, 2021. "The complex power dynamics within a health care institution during the 15th and 18th centuries. The case of the Great and New Hospital of Palermo," CONTABILIT? E CULTURA AZIENDALE, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 0(1), pages 11-59.
    14. Solomon, Jill Frances & Thomson, Ian, 2009. "Satanic Mills?," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 74-87.
    15. Massimo Sargiacomo & Luca Ianni & Antonio D'Andreamatteo, 2014. "Contabilit? e Governo dell?Economia Agricola della Nazione: Arrigo Serpieri e la Riforma dei Consorzi di Bonifica," CONTABILIT? E CULTURA AZIENDALE, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2014(1), pages 85-111.
    16. McDaid, Emma & Andon, Paul & Free, Clinton, 2023. "Algorithmic management and the politics of demand: Control and resistance at Uber," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    17. Bento da Silva, Jose & Llewellyn, Nick & Anderson-Gough, Fiona, 2017. "Oral-aural accounting and the management of the Jesuit corpus," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 44-57.
    18. Mennicken, Andrea, 2002. "Bringing calculation back in: Sociological studies in accounting," economic sociology. perspectives and conversations, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, vol. 3(3), pages 17-27.
    19. Carmona, Salvador & Ezzamel, Mahmoud & Gutierrez, Fernando, 2002. "The relationship between accounting and spatial practices in the factory," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 239-274, April.
    20. Lamb, Margaret, 2001. "'Horrid appealing': accounting for taxable profits in mid-nineteenth century England," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 271-298, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:accfor:v:33:y:2009:i:3:p:225-244. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/accounting-forum .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.