What is the role of accounting in disaster recovery and relief? A literature review

Abstract

This study explores the role of accounting system and its output on government’s and donors’ responses to disasters across the world. It discusses potential contribution and limitation of accounting in the disaster relief and recovery process. To do so, a literature review of 22 papers on accounting and disaster is performed. The review papers were search and gathered from reputable journals indexed in Scopus database. This study discovers that accounting can play a more extensive role, rather than dealing merely with financial loss calculation and budget preparation for disaster recovery and relief program. Accounting has a broader role and this extended role has not been sufficiently covered in several previous studies. The role of accounting in responding to disasters is beyond the calculative function and passive recording of events. Accounting can support the establishment of exceptional governance, facilitate dialogue and create mutual understanding between stakeholders through financial information. In addition, accounting can assist the projects monitoring and evaluation and its outputs (budget, unit cost calculation, and storage bookkeeping) can be used by researchers to understand what really happens and how society responses to disasters.

Inaction, silencing, and ignorance in disaster prevention: the case of Rıza Bey Apartment collapse in the earthquake in Turkey

“…Disaster prevention mechanisms reflect actors' socio-technical backgrounds by tracing their roots, through which adaptive steps they have passed to the current conditions. In addition to these structural accounts in responding to disasters, disaster prevention dynamics also constitute practices and processes before, during, and after the disaster (Sargiacomo, 2015) because the role of disaster prevention transcends the calculative function and passive recording of events (Fahlevi et al. , 2019).…”

“…Disaster prevention mechanisms reflect actors' socio-technical backgrounds by tracing their roots, through which adaptive steps they have passed to the current conditions. In addition to these structural accounts in responding to disasters, disaster prevention dynamics also constitute practices and processes before, during, and after the disaster (Sargiacomo, 2015) because the role of disaster prevention transcends the calculative function and passive recording of events (Fahlevi et al, 2019). It also considers the naturalness, contingency, and agencements of Earth, ground, and surface without externalizing emotions (Sargiacomo and Walker, 2021); the practices, expertise and processes of accounts (Miller et al, 2008); and emotional states and cognition (Searle, 1990).…”

Risk Disclosures in Bank Reporting: Sustainable Finance Roadmap Era

“…Disclosure may not be purely an economic decision, especially considering social and political aspects (Abraham & Shrives, 2014) and other elements such as the environment. Accounting disclosure in corporate reporting provides accounting and financial information and can expand through other aspects such as accountability in social and environmental aspects (Fahlevi, Indriani, Mulyany, & Nadirsyah, 2019). Accounting can be a means for someone to take responsibility for human life because based on unity (Sitorus, Triyuwono, & Kamayanti, 2017), and humanism (Shonhadji, 2016).…”

Research in disaster and social capital: Mapping out the themes and findings

“…Research in the field of disaster has been growingly and widely conducted primarily in response to the local and global disaster phenomena which has also witnessed an increasing trend over the time [8]. On the other hand, social capital has been recognized as a key element in recovery and resilience to disasters [2].…”