The purpose of this module is to provide a framework within which students are able to place their accounting studies into a sustainable development context, namely: o Understand the history of sustainable development initiatives and the relevance of the sustainable development goals o Explain the relevance of sustainable development for organisations and accountants o Understand the sources of responsibility and what kinds of accountability demands emerge from the sustainable development agenda o Understand and interact with the particular problem sets that emerge at the intersection of sustainable development, organisations and accounting
2. Develop an in-depth and nuanced understanding of issues of responsibility and accountability alongside the role of accounting practices in navigating these relationships
3. Develop an in-depth understanding of the issues at stake in a sub-set of the following topics areas (the mix of topics will vary each year): * o Water o Climate change o Biodiversity o Forced labour/working conditions o Supply chains and SDGs o Materials flows
4. Evaluate the use of accounting control mechanisms and processes for discharging accountability, drawing on a sub-set of the following accounting techniques (the mix of techniques will vary each year): * o Supply chain survey, co-ordination o Risk evaluation and mitigation o Project appraisal o Lifecycle analysis & externalities accounting o Certification, audit and assurance o Reporting o Taxation o Markets and their effects
5. Identify issues with the nature of societal responses to sustainable development issues; the limits of individual organizational responsiveness to sustainable development demands and the implications of these limits for accounting.
* Each year 3 topics will be selected to develop in depth understanding of accounting.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the module students should be able to:
Describe what constitutes sustainable development (by reference to the Sustainable Development Goals)
Demonstrate how accounting and reporting practices impact upon the pursuit of sustainable development
Evaluate the effectiveness of accounting control mechanisms and processes for discharging accountability in supporting organizational contributions to sustainable development
Identify the limits of organizational responsibility for sustainable development issuesUse accounting theories to articulate their knowledge of the intersection of sustainable development and accounting