Search results

The purpose of this paper is to re-kindle debate about finding a conceptual and pragmatic basis for accounting and accountability researchers and to incorporate biodiversity management into the internal practices, routines and communication of organizations.

A qualitative interplay of theories, particularly structuration theory, applied to an interdisciplinary, communitarian and eco-centric perspective will be used to demonstrate the need for change: for researchers and practitioners to interact with other disciplines and adapt their professional, institutional and governance practices to incorporate biodiversity management and reporting within organizational structures.

Collective community action can be undertaken by aligning physical biodiversity and its setting with the interrelationship between external information structures, accountability and internal information structures, agent behaviour and the reporting of outcomes. This should assist in reducing the loss of species and richness triggered by unsound economic decision-making.

This is perhaps one of the few accounting studies which discuss theoretical frameworks for the integration of accounting/accountability systems and biological diversity information through a conceptual rethinking.

This should assist in reducing the loss of species and richness triggered by unsound economic decision-making.

This paper re-opens the debate regarding the need for an alternative conceptual approach through which biodiversity management can be incorporated into the complexities of business interactions, and the social and natural systems, by using management accounting as a primary vehicle. This is perhaps one of the few accounting studies which discuss theoretical frameworks for the integration of accounting/accountability systems and biological diversity information through a conceptual rethinking.

The objective of this study was to investigate the quantity and quality of voluntary environmental disclosures in the annual reports of firms listed by market capitalisation on the Australian Stock Exchange. The periods examined were those immediately prior and subsequent to the release of the Exposure Draft Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economics (CERES) Global Reporting Initiatives (GRI) issued in March 1999. Using content analysis to focus on the environmental aspects, the study compared 425 annual reports over a two‐year period and 60 environmental reports, in order to explore reporting practices in the periods surrounding this intervention. The results suggest a trend to triple‐bottom reporting, and a significant change in the quality and quantity of environmental information, albeit in specific categories.

The purpose of this study is to identify the taxonomies, and the quality and quantity of environmental and social information disclosed in the annual reports of Australian firms.

Using content analysis, and the broad categories of the Global Reporting Initiative as interpretive guidelines, the study examines the information disclosed in the annual reports of 187 firms listed on the Australian stock exchange over a five‐year period

The findings from logistic regression interconnect the firm's categorical imperatives with their reporting of sustainability issues and key performance indicators.

Limitations to this research are: the subjective aspects associated with the use of content analysis and the use of logistic regression does not provide a causal relationship between variables, it only provides an interaction.

The results suggest a considerable reporting improvement is warranted to support user confidence in the representation, the understandability and comparability of social and environmental information. Accountability and a systemic trust by users in the information reported necessitate these qualitative characteristics form part of the reporting process.

The content used to communicate the environmental and social outcomes resulting from a firm's operations has increasingly become aligned to a disclosure strategy, that is, an indication of management imperatives. These results provide pragmatic insights in the disclosure of particular environmental and social classifications in the annual report, and indirectly into management reporting imperatives.

The purpose of this study is to illuminate the disclosure of biodiversity material contained in the reported information of 151 local government authorities (LGAs) in New South Wales, Australia. The introduction of the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity (an international treaty to sustain the rich diversity of life on earth) has made the issue of fauna management and monitoring, and the associated requirement for cost-effective information, much more important. As local communities are best placed to make decisions about the protection of their local environments, the content in external reports and other disclosures allows stakeholders to gauge how accountable LGAs are regarding the conservation of biodiversity within their geographical jurisdiction.

Content analysis was used to analyze the disclosures of these LGAs.

The results reveal marked differences in the reporting of biodiversity issues. In fact, LGAs in the state of New South Wales (Australia) have been, at best, lukewarm in their disclosure of strategic information relating to biodiversity, particularly in their strategic goals and plans.

This paper contributes to the academic literature on biodiversity reporting by investigating existing reporting practices and providing evidence that a universally adopted framework for biodiversity reporting and reporting of local native fauna is required. In particular, the impacts of these practices need to be properly understood for LGAs to provide accountability to their stakeholders.

Stakeholder theory provided the broad theoretical lens to explore environmental issues in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The diversity in issues examined ranged from concern for immediate stakeholders, their industry group and the influence of global warming on their business activities, to the type of environmental information included within their internal information systems. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

A mailed survey was used to obtain data from SMEs operating in Australia. The focus was primarily directed to medium size firms.

The findings indicate that SMEs were aware that their stakeholders, particularly their employees and customers were concerned with environmental issues. The respondent SMEs were also aware that global warming would influence their activities, for example, the design of their projects, occupational, health and safety, labour contracts and customer relations. Overall, the findings suggest that any tailored approach to regulate or self-regulate environmental management in SMEs, be industry and stakeholder driven.

The limitations of this research are primarily those applicable to the survey method, SME response rates, and the geographical location covered by the survey. The focus of this study is primarily medium size firms, rather than micro small business.

This study gains insights into some of the practical aspects of environmental management in SMEs and in so doing adds to the growing body of literature in this under researched area.

The purpose of this paper is to do a thorough literature review to assess the current status of corporate sustainability practices, issues and challenges in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and, based on literature, suggest a model that can improve and strategically manage their sustainability practices in the emerging market context of Asia.

The authors did a meta-analysis of the reviewed literature taken from peer-reviewed scholarly journals in the time frame of 1985-2016. Methodology used by the authors is through preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis.

Corporate sustainability is a well-practiced area in big organisations. However, literature suggests that in case of SMEs, the situation is different. Social and environmental practices are grossly neglected in SMEs, more specifically in emerging markets. Existing literature mentions that collaborative mode of operation, government policy and facilitation and supporting organisation culture can positively influence SME’s sustainability performance and hence improve their financial performance.

Most of the papers in corporate sustainability literature are qualitative in nature and there is no empirical evidence of establishing this relationship in SME context. This paper tries to conceptualise the existence of a possible framework relating factors of sustainability and their role in improving business performance of the SMEs. However, the findings are purely literature-based and piloting of the questionnaire is also done on 20 SMEs in a specific geography. This is a very small and also a biased sample. Future research studies based on this paper are expected to verify the proposed relationship with larger data set catering to different industry clusters and countries.

The proposed model is only directional in nature. With the content analysis, the authors have tried to answer the research questions relating to factors of sustainability and its impact on business performance. To address the research questions in a more generalised way, an empirical research needs to be conducted to establish the research propositions. The proposed model needs to be validated and optimised with further research and data analysis. Once such a model is established, this can be proved beneficial for providing guidance to SMEs to enhance the sustainability of their business operations.

The SME sector has made a significant contribution to the economic development in countries, and this sector has huge potential for growth, and their geographic spread and penetration is much higher than large organisations. Sustainable growth of this industry sector can reasonably be expected to lead to stable and sustainable development of the nation. Moreover, environmental and social best practices adopted by SMEs will also have a positive influence on society and environment in the long run.

This paper had done a geography wise analysis of sustainable practices in SMEs, and based on the recommendations and suggestions of different analyses, the authors developed few research propositions and also presented a conceptual model. Finally, to address the gap, it mentions some future research possibilities to test and validate the proposed model in the context of SMEs in emerging markets of Asia.