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Addressing grand challenges requires an in-depth understanding of the social constructs, such as the gender discourse that shapes gender equality. Accounting, through annual reporting, contributes to constructing realities, thus impacting grand challenges. This paper explores how organizational reporting by a non-governmental organization (NGO) promotes particular ideologies about gender in a changing sociocultural context.

The paper uses a case study of an NGO that has long used annual reports to disseminate its perspectives on gender. Drawing on 1,251 pages of annual reports (in French, a gendered language), including 1,618 visuals, from 1995 to 2021, we use feminist and ideological perspectives to analyse the rhetorical strategies used.

The results show that the NGO’s annual reports include evolving perspectives on gender. In an earlier period, it emphasizes complementarity between men and women while assigning primary roles to men. More recently, while the organization continues to support traditional visions on gender representation, the reporting narratives and visuals strive towards greater inclusivity. The findings also suggest instances of ambiguity in how an organization can use narratives and visuals, prompting a discussion on the idea of rhetorical ambiguity in organizational reporting.

This study shows how organizational reporting longitudinally evolves regarding grand challenges, beyond financial and business matters. The paper identifies sites of gender ideology in both visuals and narratives of the reports.

The purpose of this study is to map the intellectual structure of sustainable finance and accounting (SFA) literature by identifying the influential aspects, main research streams and future research directions in SFA.

The results are obtained using bibliometric citation analysis and content analysis to conduct a bibliometric review of the intersection of sustainable finance and sustainable accounting using a sample of 795 articles published between 1991 and November 2023.

The most influential factors in the SFA literature are identified, highlighting three primary areas of research: corporate social responsibility and environmental disclosure; financial and economic performance; and regulations and standards.

SFA has experienced rapid development in recent years. The results identify the current research domain, guide potential future research directions, serve as a reference for SFA and provide inspiration to policymakers.

SFA typically encompasses sustainable corporate business practices and investments. This study contributes to broader social impacts by promoting improved corporate practices and sustainability.

This study expands on previous research on SFA. The authors identify significant aspects of the SFA literature, such as the most studied nations, leading journals, authors and trending publications. In addition, the authors provide an overview of the three major streams of the SFA literature and propose various potential future research directions, inspiring both academic research and policymaking.