IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/iaf/journl/y2025i3p31-40.html

New Methods for Accounting Research of the Narrative Component of Sustainable Reporting: Challenges and Opportunities

Author

Listed:
  • Serhii Lehenchuk

    (Zhytomyr Polytechnic State University, Zhytomyr, Ukraine)

  • Olha Fedorova

    (Zhytomyr Polytechnic State University, Zhytomyr, Ukraine)

Abstract

Today, the Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting Directive (CSRD) defines the direction of accounting transformation. Its implementation is accompanied by the adoption of new ESRS standards, which establish more detailed and quantifiable reporting requirements, necessitating the development of methods capable of combining the analysis of financial indicators with the study of narratives. The purpose of the article is to analyze the methodological challenges and new opportunities for accounting science that have arisen as a result of the development of sustainability reporting with a predominant narrative component, as well as to justify the need to hybridize methodological tools and competencies of accounting researchers to study this new phenomenon effectively. The main emphasis in the study is on the "narrative turn" – the transition from traditional financial reporting to reporting with a predominant narrative component, which reveals the impact of the enterprise on ESG aspects. This change requires a fundamental rethinking of scientific research methodology in accounting. The study's results indicate that digitalizing reporting and using Big Data tools create new opportunities and risks associated with information overload for users and the need to verify the reliability of large volumes of narrative information. The article offers an overview of methods for analyzing accounting narratives of sustainability reporting (content analysis, natural language processing, linguistic techniques) necessary to assess their qualitative and quantitative parameters. The inevitability of hybridization of the competencies of accounting researchers and the expansion of the subject of accounting science through integration with sociology, linguistics, and communication theories was substantiated. According to the constitutive theory, accounting narratives of sustainability reporting confirm the understanding of accounting as a socio-economic institution and institutional practice. The analysis of the "narrative turn" implemented through the implementation of CSRD allowed for the identification of the challenges that need to be recognized, analyzed, and overcome by accounting researchers.

Suggested Citation

  • Serhii Lehenchuk & Olha Fedorova, 2025. "New Methods for Accounting Research of the Narrative Component of Sustainable Reporting: Challenges and Opportunities," Oblik i finansi, Institute of Accounting and Finance, issue 3, pages 31-40, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:iaf:journl:y:2025:i:3:p:31-40
    DOI: 10.33146/2518-1181-2025-3(109)-31-40
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.afj.org.ua/pdf/1168-novi-metodi-dlya-buhgalterskih-doslidzhen.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: http://www.afj.org.ua/en/article/1168/
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.33146/2518-1181-2025-3(109)-31-40?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Marian-Dragos Mangiuc & Meral Kagitci, 2025. "CSRD as a Paradigm Shift in Sustainability Reporting: From Voluntary Practice to Legal Requirement," The AMFITEATRU ECONOMIC journal, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 27(70), pages 1193-1193, August.
    2. Petros Vourvachis & Thérèse Woodward, 2015. "Content analysis in social and environmental reporting research: trends and challenges," Journal of Applied Accounting Research, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 16(2), pages 166-195, September.
    3. Giovanna Michelon & Grzegorz Trojanowski & Ruth Sealy, 2022. "Narrative Reporting: State of the Art and Future Challenges," Accounting in Europe, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(1), pages 7-47, January.
    4. repec:eme:aaaj00:09513579910270129 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Valeria Grippo & Andrea di Piazza & Francesca Mazzarella, 2025. "A new paradigm in corporate reporting: The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD)," ECONOMIA PUBBLICA, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2025(1), pages 137-146.
    6. Beattie, Vivien, 2014. "Accounting narratives and the narrative turn in accounting research: Issues, theory, methodology, methods and a research framework," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 111-134.
    7. Petros Vourvachis & Thérèse Woodward, 2015. "Content analysis in social and environmental reporting research: trends and challenges," Journal of Applied Accounting Research, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 16(2), pages 166-195, September.
    8. repec:eme:jaar00:jaar-04-2013-0027 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Herhausen, Dennis & Ludwig, Stephan & Abedin, Ehsan & Haque, Nasim Ul & de Jong, David, 2025. "From words to insights: Text analysis in business research," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).
    10. Ferjančič, Urša & Ichev, Riste & Lončarski, Igor & Montariol, Syrielle & Pelicon, Andraž & Pollak, Senja & Sitar Šuštar, Katarina & Toman, Aleš & Valentinčič, Aljoša & Žnidaršič, Martin, 2024. "Textual analysis of corporate sustainability reporting and corporate ESG scores," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 96(PB).
    11. Sue Llewellyn, 1999. "Narratives in accounting and management research," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 12(2), pages 220-237, May.
    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. Serhii Lehenchuk, 2025. "The Narrative Component of Sustainability Reporting as a Strategic Tool of the Impression Management," Oblik i finansi, Institute of Accounting and Finance, issue 4, pages 14-25, December.

    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. Angela Nativio, 2025. "Impact She Wrote: Genres of Narrative Accounting in the Cultural Sector," Working Papers 09, Venice School of Management - Department of Management, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia.
    2. Albino, Francesca & Doh, Jonathan & Garrone, Paola & Piscitello, Lucia, 2025. "Non-market strategies and firms’ organizational performance. Evidence from the energy sector in Sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    3. Christ, Katherine L. & Burritt, Roger L., 2023. "Exploring effectiveness of entity actions to eliminate modern slavery risk – Early Australian evidence," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(1).
    4. Oehler, Andreas & Neuss, Charlotte, 2025. "ESG disclosure vs. ESG ratings: Consistent information value?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    5. Morris, Jonathan, 2020. "Water sustainability in the brewing industry: a stakeholder based approach," Die Unternehmung - Swiss Journal of Business Research and Practice, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 74(3), pages 245-263.
    6. Antonelli, Valerio & Bigoni, Michele & Funnell, Warwick & Mattia Cafaro, Emanuela & Deidda Gagliardo, Enrico, 2023. "Popular culture and totalitarianism: Accounting for propaganda in Italy under the Fascist regime (1934–1945)," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    7. Dimes, Ruth & de Villiers, Charl, 2024. "Hallmarks of Integrated Thinking," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(1).
    8. Alessandra Allini & Rosanna Span? & Annamaria Zampella & Fiorenza Meucci, 2020. "Integrated Performance Plans in Higher Education as means of accounting change. Insights into the Italian context," MANAGEMENT CONTROL, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2020(1), pages 87-110.
    9. Boone, Jeff & Hao, Jie & Linthicum, Cheryl & Pham, Viet, 2024. "Impression management strategy — The relationship between accounting narrative thematic bias and financial graph distortion," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(4).
    10. Leung, Sidney & Parker, Lee & Courtis, John, 2015. "Impression management through minimal narrative disclosure in annual reports," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(3), pages 275-289.
    11. Mohammed Adel Elzahaby, 2023. "Corporate narrative disclosure practices in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region: a systematic literature review," International Journal of Disclosure and Governance, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 20(3), pages 296-315, September.
    12. Wang, Ruizhe & Chua, Wai Fong & Simnett, Roger & Zhou, Shan, 2024. "Is greater connectivity of financial and non-financial information in annual reports valued by market participants?," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(6).
    13. Claudia Arena & Giovanna Michelon, 2018. "A matter of control or identity? Family firms' environmental reporting decisions along the corporate life cycle," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(8), pages 1596-1608, December.
    14. Diana da Silva & Danie Schutte & Jhalukpreya Surujlal, 2021. "Unpacking the IFRS Implications of COVID-19 for Travel and Leisure Companies Listed on the JSE," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-20, July.
    15. Manuel De Nicola & Anna Maria Maurizi, 2023. "What do companies report about their digital transformation?," MANAGEMENT CONTROL, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2023(2), pages 165-185.
    16. Jonnergård, Karin & von Koch, Christopher & Nilsson, Ola, 2020. "Information environment – An exploration and clarification of the concept based on prior literature," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    17. Masibulele Phesa & Mabutho Sibanda & Frank Ranganai Matenda & Zamanguni Gumede, 2025. "Impression Management Tactics in the Chairperson’s Statement: A Systematic Literature Review and Avenues for Future Research," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-33, May.
    18. Brennan, Niamh M. & Power, Sean Bradley, 2025. "Reprint of: Nineteenth century audit reports: Evolution from free-form to standardised wording," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 57(1).
    19. Moreno, Alonso, 2024. "Impression management in bilingual corporate reporting: An analysis of textual characteristics in Spanish and English," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(PA).
    20. Helen LaVan & Lori S. Cook & Ivana Zilic, 2021. "An analysis of the ethical frameworks and financial outcomes of corporate social responsibility and business press reporting of US pharmaceutical companies," International Journal of Business Governance and Ethics, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 15(3), pages 326-355.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:iaf:journl:y:2025:i:3:p:31-40. 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: Serhii Ostapchuk (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iafkvua.html .

    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.