Determinants of intention to engage in Sustainability Accounting & Reporting (SAR): the perspective of professional accountants

Abstract

This study examines the perception of professional accountants and the intention to engage in Sustainability Accounting & Reporting (SAR). By relying on the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), the study investigates whether attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control have any impact on a firm's intention to engage in SAR. A survey method of research was adopted, and a set of questionnaires was developed (based on existing studies) and administered to professional accountants-the respondent group. A total of 86 professional accountants in Ghana voluntarily participated in the study. The partial least square-SEM (PLS-SEM) technique was used to analyse the data obtained. The results from the structural analysis demonstrate that only subjective norm and perceived behavioural control significantly influence a firm's intention to engage in SAR. By implication, the attitude of an accountant towards SAR does not affect the intention to engage in the practice and that the willingness to engage in SAR is primarily determined by resources availability and pressure from major stakeholders.

Organisational and professional challenges amid the evolution of sustainability reporting: a theoretical framework and an agenda for future research

“…The relevance of environmental and social themes and the change towards an emphasis on sustainability substantially increased during the two first decades of the new century. This provided and still provides a significant opportunity for accountants and reporting managers (Farooq and de Villiers, 2019) to spearhead environmental, social and sustainability management via their active role in accounting and reporting (Kwakye et al, 2018;Lai et al, 2019b). The topics highlighted in the previous phase increased momentum under a new lensthey started to be conceived with the lens of sustainability, in line with the idea that sustainable development "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" (United Nations, 1987).…”

“…They were often considered outside the professional jurisdiction of the people involved, as they were slow to engage with sustainability issues (Mathews, 1997). Their response to the need for sustainability accounting and reporting mostly reflected unwillingness to become involved in this new domain (Kwakye et al , 2018). Further, the more “traditional” accounting literature was convinced that sustainability remained outside the domain of accounting; as a result, more recently, accounting has become considered a profession unable to integrate economics and sustainable issues (Burritt and Tingey-Holyoak, 2011, p. 108).…”

“…The relevance of environmental and social themes and the change towards an emphasis on sustainability substantially increased during the two first decades of the new century. This provided and still provides a significant opportunity for accountants and reporting managers (Farooq and de Villiers, 2019) to spearhead environmental, social and sustainability management via their active role in accounting and reporting (Kwakye et al , 2018; Lai et al , 2019b).…”

“…A huge increase in the relevance of environmental, social and governance disclosure occurred – increasingly referred to as sustainability. This was demonstrated by new broad streams of literature that provided significant evidence of the relevance of many types of non-traditional accounting and reporting, all over the world (Argento et al , 2019; Del Baldo, 2017; du Toit et al , 2017; Farneti et al , 2019; Guthrie et al , 2017; Ismaeel and Zakaria, 2020; Kassim et al , 2019; McNally et al , 2017; Peña and Jorge, 2019; Suárez-Rico et al , 2019), with some differences between developed and developing countries (Kwakye et al , 2018).…”

“…While new sustainability fields were occupied to satisfy new subjects and new domains – as began in the previous period – bringing much expertise inside and outside traditional offices, the problem of considering and facing a relevant sustainability effort arose in the traditional domains of accounting and reporting, bringing an increasing need to change how to tell the organisation. Accountants started to play a significant role in explaining socio-environmental performance, organising environmental auditing, providing accountability, evaluating environmental risks (O’Dwyer and Unerman, 2020) and providing feedback for sustainability policies and performance (Kwakye et al , 2018; Özsözgün Çalişkan, 2014; Wilmshurst and Frost, 2001).…”