Integrating Sustainability into a Management Accounting Module in Higher Education: A Reflexive Study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54536/jtel.v3i3.5643Keywords:
Accounting Pedagogy, Management Accounting, Piggybacking, SustainabilityAbstract
This study responds to calls for embedding sustainability into higher education by exploring the integration of sustainability into an existing management accounting module. Using a case study approach, the paper reflects on the efficacy of a pragmatic strategy described as ‘adding’ or ‘piggybacking’ sustainability content onto current teaching. While transformational change in curricula is often advocated, this work demonstrates the potential of a more incremental approach, particularly in contexts where time and structural constraints exist. The findings suggest that this method is time-efficient, enables the contextualisation of sustainability within an established discipline, and promotes innovative teaching practices. However, several challenges have been identified, including the limited time to address a complex subject such as sustainability in depth, the development of only a ‘weak form’ of sustainability understanding, and a lack of integration with other accounting modules across the programme. Moreover, the success of such initiatives often depends heavily on the enthusiasm and commitment of individual tutors. This case study contributes to the growing body of literature on sustainability in higher education by offering practical insights and critical reflection on early-stage implementation. It highlights the value and limitations of pragmatic approaches, underscoring the importance of further embedding sustainability in a more integrated and systemic manner.
References
Alberg, A. J., Shopland, D. R., & Cummings, K. M. (2014). The 2014 Surgeon General’s report: commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the 1964 Report of the Advisory Committee to the US Surgeon General and updating the evidence on the health consequences of cigarette smoking. American journal of epidemiology, 179(4), 403-412. https://doi.org/10.1093/aje/kwt335
Baker, M., & Schaltegger, S. (2015). Pragmatism and new directions in social and environmental accountability research. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 28(2), 263-294. https://doi.org/10.1108/AAAJ-08-2012-01079
Bawden, T. (2015), “Gulf of Mexico oil spill: BP finally gets disaster closure with $18.7bn payout”. Independent. July 3, 2015. Available at: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/gulf-of-mexico-oil-spill-bp-finally-gets-disaster-closure-with-187bn-payout-10362877.html
Bebbington, J., & Larrinaga, C. (2014). Accounting and sustainable development: An exploration. Accounting, organizations and society, 39(6), 395-413. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aos.2014.01.003
Bebbington, J., & Thomson, I. (2013). Sustainable development, management and accounting: Boundary crossing. Management Accounting Research, 24(4), 277-283. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.mar.2013.09.002
Bebbington, J., & Unerman, J. (2020). Advancing research into accounting and the UN sustainable development goals. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 33(7), 1657-1670. https://doi.org/10.1108/AAAJ-05-2020-4556
Bebbington, J., Russell, S., & Thomson, I. (2017). Accounting and sustainable development: Reflections and propositions. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 48, 21-34. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpa.2017.06.002
Cho, C. H., & Costa, E. (2024). Sustainability accounting education: challenges and outlook. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 25(7), 1412-1425. https://doi.org10.1108/IJSHE-02-2024-0152
Contrafatto, M. (2013). Utopia’and ‘passion’: a commentary on ‘sustainability and accounting education: the elephant in the classroom. Accounting Education, 22(4), 336-339. https://doi.org/10.1080/09639284.2013.817797
Contrafatto, M., & Burns, J. (2013). Social and environmental accounting, organisational change and management accounting: A processual view. Management Accounting Research, 24(4), 349-365. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mar.2013.10.004
Contrafatto, M., Thomson, I., & Monk, E. A. (2015). Peru, mountains and los niños: Dialogic action, accounting and sustainable transformation. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 33, 117-136. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpa.2015.04.009
Cornet, S., Barpanda, S., Guidi, M. A. D., & Viswanathan, P. K. (2024). Sustainability education and community development in higher education using participatory and case based approaches in India. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 25(9), 94-110. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-07-2022-0242
Creel, T., & Paz, V. (2018). Teaching sustainability in an accounting classroom. Discourse and Communication for Sustainable Education, 9(1), 79-85. https://doi.org/10.2478/dcse-2018-0006
Dolce, V., Emanuel, F., Cisi, M., & Ghislieri, C. (2020). The soft skills of accounting graduates: Perceptions versus expectations. Accounting Education, 29(1), 57-76. https://doi.org/10.1080/09639284.2019.1697937
Dowie, M. (1977, September/October). Pinto madness – A Mother Jones classic: For seven years the Ford Motor Company sold cars in which it knew hundreds of people would needlessly burn to death. Mother Jones. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/1977/09/pinto-madness/
Dyball, M. C., & Thomson, I. (2013). Sustainability and accounting education. Accounting Education, 22(4), 303-307. https://doi.org/10.1080/09639284.2013.817787
Ford Pinto. (1978, February 15). The infamous fireball! Crash testing a Ford Pinto [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mqu-gRqt3g
Gibassier, D., & Alcouffe, S. (2018). Environmental management accounting: the missing link to sustainability?. Social and Environmental Accountability Journal, 38(1), 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1080/0969160X.2018.1437057
Gioia, D. A., Corley, K. G., & Hamilton, A. L. (2013). Seeking qualitative rigor in inductive research: Notes on the Gioia methodology. Organizational research methods, 16(1), 15-31. https://doi.org/10.1177/1094428112452151
Gray, R. (2015). Sustainability and accounting education: The elephant in the classroom. In Sustainability in accounting education (pp. 9-33). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.1080/09639284.2013.817795
Gray, R. (2019). Sustainability accounting and education: conflicts and possibilities. In Incorporating sustainability in management education: an interdisciplinary approach (pp. 33-54). Cham: Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98125-3_3
Gray, R., Brennan, A., & Malpas, J. (2014, December). New accounts: Towards a reframing of social accounting. In Accounting forum (Vol. 38, No. 4, pp. 258-273). No longer published by Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.accfor.2013.10.005
Hassall, T., Joyce, J., Montaño, J. L. A., & Anes, J. A. D. (2005, December). Priorities for the development of vocational skills in management accountants: A European perspective. In Accounting forum (Vol. 29, No. 4, pp. 379-394). No longer published by Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.accfor.2005.03.002
Hoang, N. T. H. (2023). Artificializing accounting numbers: a sensemaking perspective in times of crisis. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 36(4), 1167-1193. https://doi.org/10.1108/AAAJ-08-2021-5424
Hotten, R. (2015). Volkswagen: The scandal explained. BBC news, 10(12), 2015. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-34324772
Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. (2023). ICAEW sustainability certificate. ICAEW. https://www.icaew.com/technical/sustainability
International Federation of Accountants. (2024, April 24). Equipping accountants for sustainability reporting: IFAC proposes enhancements to international education standards. https://www.ifac.org/news-events/2024-04/equipping-accountants-sustainability-reporting-ifac-proposes-enhancements-international-education
International Financial Reporting Standards Foundation. (2023). Climate-related disclosures. https://www.ifrs.org/projects/work-plan/climate-related-disclosures/
Jha, A. (2005), “When was the link between smoking and cancer established?”. The Guardian. June 2, 2005. https://www.theguardian.com/news/2005/jun/02/thisweekssciencequestions.cancer
Kelsall, C. A. (2020). Ecological Management Accounting—Taking into Account Sustainability, Does Accounting Have Far to Travel?. Sustainability, 12(21), 8854. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12218854
Laine, M. (2013). A commentary on sustainability and accounting education: The elephant in the classroom. Accounting Education, 22(4), 333–335. https://doi.org/10.1080/09639284.2013.817796
Larkins, M., Wright, W., & Dann, S. (2018). Sustainability and engagement: strange bedfellows in the undergraduate textbook. International journal of sustainability in higher education, 19(6), 1053-1074. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-09-2017-0152
Leal Filho, W., Raath, S., Lazzarini, B., Vargas, V. R., de Souza, L., Anholon, R., ... & Orlovic, V. L. (2018). The role of transformation in learning and education for sustainability. Journal of cleaner production, 199, 286-295. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.07.017
Lee, W. E., Birkey, R. N., & Patten, D. M. (2017). Exposing students to environmental sustainability in accounting: An analysis of its impacts in a US setting. Social and Environmental Accountability Journal, 37(2), 81-96. https://doi.org/10.1080/0969160X.2016.1270225
Llewelyn, S. (2003). What counts as “theory” in qualitative management and accounting research? Introducing five levels of theorizing. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 16(4), 662-708. https://doi.org/10.1108/09513570310492344
Mair, S., & Druckman, A. (2023). Assessing the suitability of sustainability frameworks for embedding sustainability in higher education curricula: pragmatism versus transformation. International journal of sustainability in higher education, 24(9), 318-334. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-08-2020-0315
Mathews, M. R. (1997). Twenty-five years of social and environmental accounting research: is there a silver jubilee to celebrate?. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 10(4), 481-531. https://doi.org/10.1108/EUM0000000004417
McCowan, T. (2023). The climate crisis as a driver for pedagogical renewal in higher education. Teaching in Higher Education, 28(5), 933-952. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2023.2197113
Misiaszek, G. W. (2020). Ecopedagogy: Teaching critical literacies of ‘development’, ‘sustainability’, and ‘sustainable development’. Teaching in Higher Education, 25(6), 633–649. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2019.1586668
Molthan-Hill, P., Worsfold, N., Nagy, G. J., Leal Filho, W., & Mifsud, M. (2019). Climate change education for universities: A conceptual framework from an international study. Journal of Cleaner Production, 226, 1092-1101. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.04.053
Owen, G. (2013), “Integrated Reporting: A Review of Developments and their Implications for the Accounting Curriculum”. Accounting Education, 22(4), 340-356. https://doi.org/10.1080/09639284.2013.817798
Saravanamuthu, K. (2015). Instilling a sustainability ethos in accounting education through the Transformative Learning pedagogy: A case-study. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 32, 1-36.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpa.2015.05.008
Schaltegger, S., & Burritt, R. L. (2010). Sustainability accounting for companies: Catchphrase or decision support for business leaders?. Journal of World Business, 45(4), 375-384. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwb.2009.08.002
Simon, M., & Budke, A. (2020). How geography textbook tasks promote comparison competency—An international analysis. Sustainability, 12(20), 8344. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12208344
Thomson, I., & Bebbington, J. (2004). It doesn’t matter what you teach?. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 15(4-5), 609-628. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1045-2354(03)00049-2
Thomson, I., & Bebbington, J. (2005). Social and environmental reporting in the UK: a pedagogic evaluation. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 16(5), 507-533. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpa.2003.06.003
Thomson, I., Dey, C., & Russell, S. (2015). Activism, arenas and accounts in conflicts over tobacco control. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 28(5), 809-845. https://doi.org/10.1108/AAAJ-08-2013-1439
Tillmann, K., & Goddard, A. (2008). Strategic management accounting and sense-making in a multinational company. Management accounting research, 19(1), 80-102. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mar.2007.11.002
Tran, T. T., & Herzig, C. (2020). Material flow cost accounting in developing countries: A systematic review. Sustainability, 12(13), 5413. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12135413
United Nations. (1987). Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our common future. https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/5987our-common-future.pdf
United Nations. (2015). Transforming our world: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. https://sdgs.un.org/2030agenda
United Nations. (2022). The climate crisis – A race we can win. https://www.un.org/en/un75/climate-crisis-race-we-can-win
William Misiaszek, G., & Rodrigues, C. (2023). Teaching justice-based environmental sustainability in higher education: generative dialogues. Teaching in Higher Education, 28(5), 903-917. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2019.1586668
Wong, A., George, S., & Tanima, F. A. (2021). Operationalising dialogic accounting education through praxis and social and environmental accounting: Exploring student perspectives. Accounting Education, 30(5), 525-550. https://doi.org/10.1080/09639284.2021.1919531
Wyness, L., & Dalton, F. (2018). The value of problem-based learning in learning for sustainability: Undergraduate accounting student perspectives. Journal of Accounting Education, 45, 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaccedu.2018.09.001
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Shahadat Hossain, Christopher Kelsall, Stuart Marsh
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
