This book continues the discussion on recent developments relating to ethical and sustainable issues in accounting & finance from Ethics and Sustainability in Accounting and Finance, Volume I. Accounting is often seen as a technical discipline that records, classifies and reports financial transactions. However, since the financial information produced concerns all interest groups both within and outside the enterprise, accounting also has social characteristics and involves multi-faceted duties and responsibilities. As such, in addition to basic principles and accepted rules and standards in the field, this book focuses on the ethical aspects and fundamentals of this profession that accountants should also take into consideration, as this is the only way to build and preserve society’s confidence in accounting and increase its social credibility.

This book discusses recent developments relating to ethical and sustainable issues in accounting & finance. Accounting is often seen as a technical discipline that records, classifies and reports financial transactions. However, since the financial information produced concerns all interest groups both within and outside the enterprise, accounting also has social characteristics and involves multi-faceted duties and responsibilities. As such, in addition to basic principles and accepted rules and standards in the field, this book focuses on the ethical aspects and fundamentals of this profession that accountants should also take into consideration, as this is the only way to build and preserve society’s confidence in accounting and increase its social credibility.

This book continues the discussion on recent developments relating to ethical and sustainable issues in accounting and finance from the book , Volumes I and II, looking into topics such as the importance of good governance in accounting, tax, auditing and fraud examination, ethics, sustainability, environmental issues and new technologies and their effects on accounting and finance, focusing in particular on environmental and sustainability reporting in the oil and gas and banking sectors. The book also considers the growing importance of audit quality in this time of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This book addresses the rising concept of 21st century societal marketing which entails that marketers should fulfill the needs of their target group in ways that enhance the well-being of a society as a whole. In the past, social responsibility and corporate ethics may not have been the key elements of corporate and business strategy. However, in the last decade the picture has changed dramatically. Consumers are more concerned about ethical issues and the effects of business activities on the environment and the society. The impact and importance of ethical consumerism is escalating. The consumers are more attentive and expect companies promote their ethical credentials in order to make them more accountable of their actions. This book also reveals how companies should realize that corporate social responsibility (CSR) is not an illustration of corporate altruism but a source of opportunity, and competitive advantage. Finding and following social initiatives as a part of the key business model is proved to be one of the competitive strengths in many instances. This book covers different issues related to ethics, social responsibility and sustainability in marketing and presents different cases and applications from different countries. Together with the best practices, each case and research is expected to shed light on how to improve the role of marketing in helping to the development and well-being of the society.

This book continues the discussion on the challenges that organizations face in order to implement sustainability, ethics, and effective corporate governance, all of which are important elements of “standing out” from other companies. Examining the background of the New European Consensus on development with the new guiding motto ‘Our World, Our Dignity, Our Future,’ the authors explore how this new legislation on sustainability issues around the world is forcing companies to deal directly with sustainability issues. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (2030 Agenda), adopted by the United Nations in September 2015, is the international community’s response to global challenges and trends in connection with sustainable development. With the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at its core, the 2030 Agenda is a transformative political framework designed to eradicate poverty and achieve sustainable development globally. It balances the economic, social, and environmental dimensions of sustainable development, including the key issues of governance and peaceful and inclusive societies, and recognizes the essential interlinkages between its goals and targets, i.e., that they must be implemented as a whole and not selectively. The respective chapters in this volume raise a number of questions regarding corporate social responsibility, ethics, and corporate governance in the face of new technology, and new approaches to climate change and sustainability reporting.

Forensic accounting is gaining considerable attention as a rewarding and exciting field of accounting. Forensic accountants perform both fraud and non-fraud services. The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) released its proposed new standards for its members who perform investigation and litigation forensic accounting services in December 2018. This second volume addresses fraud and non-fraud forensic accounting practice and performance. The author discusses forensic accounting roles and processes; forensic accounting techniques roles and responsibilities of corporate gatekeepers, including forensic accountants in creating a corporate culture of integrity and competency in preventing and discovering financial statement fraud. Also presented are challenges and opportunities in forensic accounting, and emerging issues in fraud investigation.

This volume draws together contemporary topics, themes and methodologies in the field of sustainability reporting and assurance to reveal how sustainability information is actually used, interpreted and processed by internal and external users.

The indexes used by local, national, and international governments to monitor progress toward sustainability do not adequately align with their ethical priorities and have a limited ability to monitor and promote sustainability. This book gives a theoretical and practical demonstration of how ethics and technical considerations can aid the development of sustainability indexes to overcome this division in the literature and aid sustainability initiatives. Measuring and Evaluating Sustainability develops and illustrates methods of linking technical and normative concerns during the development of sustainability indexes. Specifically, guidelines for index development are combined with a pragmatic theory of ethics that enables ethical collaboration among people of diverse ethical systems. Using the resulting method of index development, the book takes a unique applied turn as it ethically evaluates multiple sustainability indexes developed and used by the European Commission, researchers, and local communities and suggests ways to improve the indexes. The book emphasizes justice as it is the most prevalent ethical principle in the sustainability literature and most neglected in index development. In addition to the ethical principles common to international sustainability initiatives, the book also employs a variety of religious and philosophical traditions to ensure that the ethical evaluations performed in the text align with the ideals of the communities using the indexes and foster cross-cultural ethical dialogue. This volume is an invaluable resource for students, researchers and professionals working on sustainability indicators and sustainability policy-making as well as interdisciplinary areas including environmental ethics; environmental philosophy; environmental or social justice; ecological economics; businesses sustainability programs; international development and environmental policy-making.

This book deals with the limitations of economic and financial accounting as an appropriate instrument to reflect the real value created or destroyed by an organization. The authors present a sustainable social accounting approach that considers both the social and economic value – Blended Value – generated by an organization for all of its stakeholders. This approach is based on four major theories – Stakeholder Theory, Action Research, Phenomenological Perspective and Fuzzy Logic – and was developed on the basis of a cost-benefit analysis.

Business Sustainability Factors of Performance, Risk, and Disclosure examines sustainability factors of performance, risk and disclosure. The five dimensions of sustainability performance are economic, governance, social, ethical, and environmental (EGSEE). Business sustainability is advancing from the greenwashing and branding to, very recently, business imperative as shareholders demand, regulators require, and companies report their sustainability performance. Sustainability has become economic and strategic imperative with potential to create opportunities and risks for businesses. Business Sustainability Factors of Performance, Risk, and Disclosure examines sustainability factors of performance, risk and disclosure. The five dimensions of sustainability performance are economic, governance, social, ethical, and environmental (EGSEE). Sustainability risks are reputational, strategic, operational, compliance, and financial (RSOCF). Sustainability disclosures are relevant to financial economic sustainability performance (ESP) and non-financial environmental, social, and governance (ESG) sustainability performance with ethics are integrated into all other components of sustainability performance. This book offers guidance for proper measurement, recognition, and reporting of all five EGSEE dimensions of sustainability performance. It also highlights how people, business, and resources collaborate in a business sustainability and accountability model in creating shared value for all stakeholders. The three sustainability factors of performance, risk and disclosure are driven from the stakeholder primacy concept with the mission of profit-with-purpose. Anyone who is involved with business sustainability and corporate governance, the financial reporting process, investment decisions, legal and financial advising, and audit functions will benefit from this book.