As a field of research matures it is welcoming to undertake periods of self-reflection and contemplate what has been achieved and where are we heading. Deegan's paper has brought to us his view of the achievements over the last decade plus and has sought to address four key questions from the Australasian perspective: on (1) presence in the literature, (2) focus of research, (3) concentration of researchers, and (4) which journals publish social accounting research. In concluding Deegan identifies seven points he believes are worthy for further investigation. This commentary will seek to address some of the issues identified by ...
As background to this paper, in 2005 one of the authors of this paper (Deegan) was kindly asked by Professor Rob Gray of the University of St. Andrews (and notably also of the Centre for Social and Environmental Accounting Research which is now housed at the University of St. Andrews) whether there would be interest in contributing a chapter to a book that was being prepared in honour of the 2005 retirement of Professor Martin Reginald Mathews (Reg) (Gray, 2007). Given Reg's contribution to the area of social and environmental accounting – particularly the generous assistance he provides to ‘up-and-coming’ ...
Social accounting is broadly understood as involving the preparation, presentation and reporting of information about ‘social’ factors or conditions, with the ‘social account’ being juxtaposed or competing with economic factors and values. Yet while recent work in relation to a sustainability agenda has begun to discuss what accounting for ecological sustainability might incorporate, there is a paucity of work which elaborates what might be at stake if accounting is to tackle issues of social justice. There is a similar discrepancy in the practice of social accounting, where whilst an increasing numbers of companies claim they are producing ‘sustainability reports’, a ...