Using Accounting Reform to Stimulate Sustainability Practices in Higher Education: A Sociological Analysis of Financial Storytelling

Abstract:     
University communities are interested in adopting sustainable practices; however, sustainable values often come into conflict with financial reports. In fact, sometimes financial reports show that sustainable values are inefficient. This paper explores financial reports as an economic language based upon the agency relationship that exists between investors and organizational managers. We give specific examples that illustrate how sustainable institutions of higher learning are held back because of these boundaries. Several suggestions are given as to how sustainable values can be integrated into the process of financial reporting. A goal of a sustainable community can be more easily achieved if it works with, rather than against, the underlying relationship that forms the current systems that are used to tell our financial stories.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 7

Keywords: Sustainability, Higher Learning, Financial Reporting, Agency Theory, Budgeting

Accepted Paper Series