Sustainability Accounting and Reporting

Module overview

Traditional accounting is mainly limited to the providing information for decision making by a range of major financial stakeholders, such as managers, investors and creditors. Given the increasing importance of sustainability issues such as climate change, students who study accounting at postgraduate level now need to understand these important issues as they will inevitably be discussed in organisations that they will work for. This module will expose students to sustainability accounting and reporting especially how to prepare a sustainability report, how to calculate greenhouse gas emissions given information on energy and water usage; waste, material usage, emissions to air, land and water and biodiversity. Students will also acquire the skills to be able to analyse the sustainability performance of an organisation and recommend how the organisation can improve its sustainability performance.

Aims and Objectives

Learning Outcomes

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

Relevant procedures in preparing a sustainability report.
The nature and importance of sustainability accounting.
Calculation and reporting of GHG emissions from energy and water usage; waste, material usage, air and land emissions and biodiversity.

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

Perform independent research.
Apply critical analysis.

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

Demonstrate the procedure in preparing a sustainability report.
Critically evaluate the nature and importance of sustainability accounting.
Demonstrate competence in calculating greenhouse gas emissions from energy and water use, material usage, emissions to air, land and water and biodiversity.

Learning and Teaching

Teaching and learning methods

Teaching methods include •The module will be lecture-based with supporting in-lecture seminars. Learning activities include •In-lecture exercises and review questions/problems; •In-lecture case studies discussion; •Weekly individual/group presentations and discussion based on selected and topic specific academic papers; •Weekly in-lecture (workshop style) solving or discussion of exercises and review questions/problems and case studies.

Study time
Type	Hours
Teaching	24
Independent Study	126
Total study time	150

Resources & Reading list

General Resources

The Greenhouse Gas Emissions (Directors’ Reports) Regulations 2013. www.defra.gov.uk/consult/files/consult-ghg-regulations-20131.pdf

World Resources Institute (2004). Greenhouse Gas Protocol - A Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard. http://www.ghgprotocol.org/files/ghgp/public/ghg-protocol- revised.pdf

Journal Articles

Suttipun, M and Stanton, P. (2012). Determinants of environmental disclosure in Thai corporate annual reports, International Journal of Accounting and Financial Reporting, 2(1). , pp. 99-115.

Tauringana, V., & Chithambo, L (2015). The effect of DEFRA guidance on greenhouse gas disclosure. The British Accounting Review (ABS 3*), Vol. 47, Issue 4. , pp. 425-444.

Burritt R.L and and Schaletegger, S. (2010). ) Sustainability accounting and reporting: Fad or trend? Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, 23(7). , pp. 829-846.

Cormier, D., Magnan, M. and Van Velthoven, B (2005). ) Environmental disclosure quality in large German companies: Economic incentives, public pressures or institutional conditions? European Accounting Review, 14(1). , pp. 3-39.

Tagesson, T., Blank, V., Broberg, P. and Collin, S. (2009). What explains the extent and content of social and environmental disclosures on corporate websites: A study of social and environmental reporting in Swedish listed corporations, Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 16. , pp. 352-364.

Textbooks

Pahuja, S., (2009). Environmental Accounting & Reporting, Theory, Law and Empirical Evidence. New Delhi, India: New Century Publications.

British Standard ISO 14064-1 (2006). Greenhouse gases – Part 1: Specification with guidance at the organization level for quantification and reporting of greenhouse gas emission and removals. London: British Standards Institution.

Unerman, J, Bebbington, J. and O’Dwyer, B (2007). Sustainability Accounting and Accountability. Oxford.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) (2013). Environmental Reporting Guidelines: Including mandatory greenhouse gas emissions reporting guidance. London: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).

Assessment

Formative

This is how we’ll give you feedback as you are learning. It is not a formal test or exam.

Feedback

Assessment Type: Formative
Feedback:
Final Assessment: No
Group Work: No

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Exam	70%
Coursework	30%