Accounting, reporting and verification of impact: Implications for sustainability: A commentary on Adams et al. (2024) “Styles of verification and the pursuit of organisational repair: The case of social impact”

Abstract

Accounting and the accountancy profession sit at a consequential crossroads as the realities of planetary boundaries manifest through climate change, biodiversity loss and soil depletion, forcing societies and economic systems to transform. Alongside the effects sustainability has on corporations’ financial performance, future outlook and risk profile, accounting and reporting need to focus on externalities, with the aim of shedding light on the impacts firm activities have on society and the natural environment. Drawing on Adams et al. (2023), this essay continues the discussion on sustainability, impact and verification, calling for attention to the styles of verification prioritized by current accounting infrastructures. With the interlinkages between verification, reporting and accounting, the elements and types of information we emphasize in verification have implications for corporate activities and priorities and, therefore, for their negative social and environmental impacts, which we as societies ought to reduce urgently. While challenging, the terrain of accounting, reporting and verifying of impact offers opportunities for the accounting profession and for institutions to serve the public interest by helping societies transform. This may, however, require them to transform themselves.