Jeffrey Unerman | Lancaster University Management School (original) (raw)

Papers by Jeffrey Unerman

This paper addresses issues raised in two recent papers published in this journal about the UK As... more This paper addresses issues raised in two recent papers published in this journal about the UK Association of Business Schools' Journal Quality Guide (ABS Guide). While much of the debate about journal rankings in general, and the ABS Guide in particular, has focused on the construction, power and (mis)use of these rankings, this paper differs in that it explains and provides evidence about explicit and implicit biases in the ABS Guide. In so doing, it poses potentially difficult questions that the editors of the ABS Guide need to address and urgently rectify if the ABS Guide seeks to build and retain legitimacy. In particular, the evidence in this paper shows explicit bias in the ABS Guide against several subject areas, including accounting and finance. It also shows implicit bias against accounting and finance when comparing journal rankings in sub-areas shared between accounting and finance and the broader business management subject areas.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to synthesise insights from accounting and accountability ... more Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to synthesise insights from accounting and accountability research into the rapidly emerging field of integrated reporting and proposes a comprehensive agenda for future research in this area. In so doing, it draws upon insights from other papers in this special issue of Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal on the theme of integrated reporting.

Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws upon and synthesises academic analysis and insights provided in the embryonic integrated reporting academic literature in conjunction with policy pronouncements.

Findings – The paper shows that the rapid development of integrated reporting policy, and early developments of practice, present theoretical and empirical challenges because of the different ways in which integrated reporting is understood and enacted within institutions. It highlights many areas where further robust academic research is needed to guide developments in policy and practice.

Research limitations/implications – The paper provide academics, regulators and reporting organisations with insights into issues and aspects of integrated reporting that need further development and need robust evidence to help inform improvements in policy and practice. A key limitation is that it draws upon a synthesis of the existing literature which is at quite an early stage of
development – but provides scope for considerable further development.

Originality/value – The paper provides the growing number of academic researchers in this emerging area with a foundation and agenda upon which they can build their research.

Purpose – This paper explores the meaning of interdisciplinarity in accounting research and the p... more Purpose – This paper explores the meaning of interdisciplinarity in accounting research and the possible benefits of moving towards a more integrated interdisciplinary approach. It also examines the drawbacks and institutional impediments to such a move.

Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws upon and synthesises the authors’ experiences of involvement in the interdisciplinary accounting community over the past two decades.

Findings – The paper distinguishes between interdisciplinarity at the field level and interdisciplinarity within individual studies. Noting a lack of study-level interdisciplinarity within accounting research, it explores the potential for novel insights emerging from encouragement of such an approach.

Implications/Limitations – Institutional impediments to study-level interdisciplinarity need to be addressed if the accounting academy is to realize the potentially powerful benefits and social contribution of such an approach to research. A key limitation is that the paper is based primarily on the observations and perspectives of the authors.

Originality/value – The paper provides a distinction between field-level and study-level interdisciplinarity

Social and Environmental Accountability Journal 34 (3) 172-186

This paper highlights the need to take materiality into account when analysing the absence of soc... more This paper highlights the need to take materiality into account when analysing the absence of social and/or environmental disclosures from organisational sustainability reports. It argues that materiality must be considered as a prerequisite when researchers seek to interpret lack of disclosures of specific social and/or environmental issues or incidents. Illustrating these arguments using an example from interpretation of absence from reporting in a recent award-winning paper, we contend that such interpretations can only be justified if organisational processes related to materiality are factored into the analysis of rhetorical or symbolic representations of sustainability within organisational reporting, a point that tends to be missed in studies of absence from sustainability reporting.

The British Accounting Review, 2008

This paper reports the results of an empirical investigation into the intellectual capital report... more This paper reports the results of an empirical investigation into the intellectual capital reporting practices of UK companies in four distinct sectors. It differs from prior intellectual capital reporting studies in that it analyses a wide range of corporate reports for their intellectual capital content. It finds major differences between the elements of intellectual capital reported in each sector studied. The study also finds that a range of different types of corporate reports were used for communicating intellectual capital information, and that the annual reports were not a good proxy for the proportion of disclosures across all corporate reports analysed in this study.

There is a growing awareness of the need to develop a broad range of competencies in accounting u... more There is a growing awareness of the need to develop a broad range of competencies in accounting undergraduates. In recognition of this, Thames Valley University developed an accounting biased Personal Skills Development (PSD) module to run alongside the first year introductory module in accounting. This note summarises the characteristics of the PSD module and some of the students views on its effectiveness. It also briefly looks at the possible impact of taking the PSD module on students performance in the introductory module in accounting.

Accounting Forum, 2007

This paper develops an alternative (or supplementary) theoretical justification for the regulatio... more This paper develops an alternative (or supplementary) theoretical justification for the regulation of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and social and environmental accounting and reporting (SEAR) to the justification contained in the extant academic literature. It does this by demonstrating how, contrary to the dominant business discourse, increased regulation designed to protect the social and environmental interests of a range of stakeholders can also serve to enhance corporate economic performance and shareholder value.The theoretical perspectives developed in this paper are drawn from Beck's and Giddens’ theories on reflexive modernity, and indicate that reflexively appropriated knowledge can be a key factor in developing socially constructed understandings of the social and environmental risks to a range of stakeholders inherent in business operations.In situations where voluntary self-regulation of CSR and SEAR has been ineffective in preventing corporate actions and decisions that have resulted in damaging social and environmental consequences, processes of reflexivity can substantially increase public awareness of the level of risk they face from corporate operations. Such increased perceptions of risk can lead to a loss of trust in an individual corporation or a whole industrial sector, and this can be exacerbated where stakeholders begin to actively seek out alternative risk discourses to inform themselves about possible risks of which they were previously unaware. We argue that effective statutory regulation could avoid these outcomes, and the loss of shareholder economic value that can flow from these outcomes.

Accounting, Oranizations and Society, 2011

Based on the development of a more refined conception of legitimacy than has been used in prior a... more Based on the development of a more refined conception of legitimacy than has been used in prior audit/assurance and sustainability accounting research, this paper analyses how the legitimation processes adopted by sustainability assurance practitioners in a large professional services firm have co-evolved with and impacted upon their attempts to develop this form of assurance practice – particularly the construction of assurance statements. The analysis reveals a complex and interdependent interplay between attempts at securing pragmatic, moral and cognitive legitimacy with three key constituencies – clients who commission the sustainability assurance services; (socially constructed) non-client users of the assurance statements; and the firm’s internal Risk Department that approves the wording of assurance statements. Securing these types of legitimacy is shown to require the adoption and alignment of varying legitimation strategies according to the constituency practitioners seek to influence. Developing pragmatic legitimacy with clients depends on establishing moral legitimacy with non-client users of assurance statements while securing moral legitimacy with non-client users is contingent on acquiring pragmatic legitimacy with the firm’s internal Risk Department. The practitioners’ legitimation strategies are underpinned by a commitment to opening up dialogue within the assurance process which is evident in their engagement with potential users of assurance and their efforts to expand assurance statement content and encourage user influence over what is assured. This provides a counterpoint to Power’s (1994, 1999) concerns about the tendency for new assurance forms to restrict debate and dialogue and reveals a rare empirical domain where Power’s (2003b) call for more customised and informative narratives in assurance reporting is being heeded.

Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 2004

This paper uses the lens of Anthony Giddens’ theories regarding the mechanisms which sustain late... more This paper uses the lens of Anthony Giddens’ theories regarding the mechanisms which sustain late-modernist societies [The Consequences of Modernity, Polity Press, Cambridge, 1990; Modernity and Self-Identity, Polity Press, Cambridge, 1991] to analyse the 2001 and 2002 accounting and audit failures at Enron, WorldCom and Andersen. Assessments of risk and trust play a central role in Giddens’ model, and this paper traces an escalating withdrawal of trust in systems of audit and accounting, and related increased perceptions of risk in corporate investment instruments. It also analyses regulatory responses aimed at sustaining or regaining public trust, and argues that failure to sustain such trust risks compromising the continued momentum of late modernity and the interests of people who benefit from institutions of late modernity.

Accounting and Business Research, 2010

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 2006

Accounting Organizations and Society, 2008

Despite mounting public, governmental and corporate interest in issues of non-governmental organi... more Despite mounting public, governmental and corporate interest in issues of non-governmental organisation (NGO) accountability, there are few academic studies investigating the emergence of accountability mechanisms in specific advocacy NGO settings. Drawing on the theoretical constructs of hierarchical and holistic accountability, this paper addresses this research gap by investigating recent developments in accountability practices at the Irish section of the human rights advocacy NGO Amnesty International. Through analysis of a series of in-depth interviews with managers in Amnesty Ireland, supported by extensive documentary scrutiny, this study examines reasons why Amnesty’s historical reliance on internal forms of accountability has been augmented with a range of ad hoc external accountability mechanisms. The study reveals that while managers favoured the development of holistic accountability mechanisms exhibiting accountability to a wide range of stakeholders, a hierarchical conception of accountability privileging a narrow range of (potentially) powerful stakeholders, has begun to dominate external accountability discourse and practice. It was widely perceived that this trend could, somewhat paradoxically, prove counterproductive to the achievement of Amnesty’s mission. Resolving this paradox will, at a minimum, involve Amnesty Ireland’s leadership becoming more open to and more knowledgeable about a broader, more holistic accountability conception. The paper considers the possible implications of these findings for the development of NGO holistic accountability practice more generally.

European Accounting Review, 2005

... had complied with all relevant legislation and required information to assess the performance... more ... had complied with all relevant legislation and required information to assess the performance of a ... 3 Recent public scrutiny of corrupt business and political practices has, however ... To meet the rising business demand for CSR services generally, PricewaterhouseCoopers' Dublin ...

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 2005

Purpose – This study presents an in-depth investigation of non-governmental organisations&amp... more Purpose – This study presents an in-depth investigation of non-governmental organisations' (NGO) perceptions of CSD (corporate social disclosure) in Ireland. It commences the process of addressing a lacuna in the CSD literature, whereby the perspectives of non-managerial stakeholders have been largely ignored. In particular, it responds to O'Dwyer call for research to examine the nature and extent of stakeholder demand

Public Management Review, 2010

This article, based on a plenary lecture given at the First International Conference on Sustainab... more This article, based on a plenary lecture given at the First International Conference on Sustainable Management of Public and Not for Profit Organizations held at the University of Bologna, Forli Campus, Italy in July 2009, provides an overview of issues in non-governmental organization (NGO) accountability that are of particular relevance in the current changing global context – in particular, a context combining economic slowdown and global warming.

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 2006

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 2007

... with a diverse range of external stakeholders, including Government, Irish and European civil... more ... with a diverse range of external stakeholders, including Government, Irish and European civil society organisations, media, academics and ... broader, longer-term societal impacts by establishing downward accountability regimes as part of their adoption of social accountability ...

This paper addresses issues raised in two recent papers published in this journal about the UK As... more This paper addresses issues raised in two recent papers published in this journal about the UK Association of Business Schools' Journal Quality Guide (ABS Guide). While much of the debate about journal rankings in general, and the ABS Guide in particular, has focused on the construction, power and (mis)use of these rankings, this paper differs in that it explains and provides evidence about explicit and implicit biases in the ABS Guide. In so doing, it poses potentially difficult questions that the editors of the ABS Guide need to address and urgently rectify if the ABS Guide seeks to build and retain legitimacy. In particular, the evidence in this paper shows explicit bias in the ABS Guide against several subject areas, including accounting and finance. It also shows implicit bias against accounting and finance when comparing journal rankings in sub-areas shared between accounting and finance and the broader business management subject areas.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to synthesise insights from accounting and accountability ... more Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to synthesise insights from accounting and accountability research into the rapidly emerging field of integrated reporting and proposes a comprehensive agenda for future research in this area. In so doing, it draws upon insights from other papers in this special issue of Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal on the theme of integrated reporting.

Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws upon and synthesises academic analysis and insights provided in the embryonic integrated reporting academic literature in conjunction with policy pronouncements.

Findings – The paper shows that the rapid development of integrated reporting policy, and early developments of practice, present theoretical and empirical challenges because of the different ways in which integrated reporting is understood and enacted within institutions. It highlights many areas where further robust academic research is needed to guide developments in policy and practice.

Research limitations/implications – The paper provide academics, regulators and reporting organisations with insights into issues and aspects of integrated reporting that need further development and need robust evidence to help inform improvements in policy and practice. A key limitation is that it draws upon a synthesis of the existing literature which is at quite an early stage of
development – but provides scope for considerable further development.

Originality/value – The paper provides the growing number of academic researchers in this emerging area with a foundation and agenda upon which they can build their research.

Purpose – This paper explores the meaning of interdisciplinarity in accounting research and the p... more Purpose – This paper explores the meaning of interdisciplinarity in accounting research and the possible benefits of moving towards a more integrated interdisciplinary approach. It also examines the drawbacks and institutional impediments to such a move.

Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws upon and synthesises the authors’ experiences of involvement in the interdisciplinary accounting community over the past two decades.

Findings – The paper distinguishes between interdisciplinarity at the field level and interdisciplinarity within individual studies. Noting a lack of study-level interdisciplinarity within accounting research, it explores the potential for novel insights emerging from encouragement of such an approach.

Implications/Limitations – Institutional impediments to study-level interdisciplinarity need to be addressed if the accounting academy is to realize the potentially powerful benefits and social contribution of such an approach to research. A key limitation is that the paper is based primarily on the observations and perspectives of the authors.

Originality/value – The paper provides a distinction between field-level and study-level interdisciplinarity

Social and Environmental Accountability Journal 34 (3) 172-186

This paper highlights the need to take materiality into account when analysing the absence of soc... more This paper highlights the need to take materiality into account when analysing the absence of social and/or environmental disclosures from organisational sustainability reports. It argues that materiality must be considered as a prerequisite when researchers seek to interpret lack of disclosures of specific social and/or environmental issues or incidents. Illustrating these arguments using an example from interpretation of absence from reporting in a recent award-winning paper, we contend that such interpretations can only be justified if organisational processes related to materiality are factored into the analysis of rhetorical or symbolic representations of sustainability within organisational reporting, a point that tends to be missed in studies of absence from sustainability reporting.

The British Accounting Review, 2008

This paper reports the results of an empirical investigation into the intellectual capital report... more This paper reports the results of an empirical investigation into the intellectual capital reporting practices of UK companies in four distinct sectors. It differs from prior intellectual capital reporting studies in that it analyses a wide range of corporate reports for their intellectual capital content. It finds major differences between the elements of intellectual capital reported in each sector studied. The study also finds that a range of different types of corporate reports were used for communicating intellectual capital information, and that the annual reports were not a good proxy for the proportion of disclosures across all corporate reports analysed in this study.

There is a growing awareness of the need to develop a broad range of competencies in accounting u... more There is a growing awareness of the need to develop a broad range of competencies in accounting undergraduates. In recognition of this, Thames Valley University developed an accounting biased Personal Skills Development (PSD) module to run alongside the first year introductory module in accounting. This note summarises the characteristics of the PSD module and some of the students views on its effectiveness. It also briefly looks at the possible impact of taking the PSD module on students performance in the introductory module in accounting.

Accounting Forum, 2007

This paper develops an alternative (or supplementary) theoretical justification for the regulatio... more This paper develops an alternative (or supplementary) theoretical justification for the regulation of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and social and environmental accounting and reporting (SEAR) to the justification contained in the extant academic literature. It does this by demonstrating how, contrary to the dominant business discourse, increased regulation designed to protect the social and environmental interests of a range of stakeholders can also serve to enhance corporate economic performance and shareholder value.The theoretical perspectives developed in this paper are drawn from Beck's and Giddens’ theories on reflexive modernity, and indicate that reflexively appropriated knowledge can be a key factor in developing socially constructed understandings of the social and environmental risks to a range of stakeholders inherent in business operations.In situations where voluntary self-regulation of CSR and SEAR has been ineffective in preventing corporate actions and decisions that have resulted in damaging social and environmental consequences, processes of reflexivity can substantially increase public awareness of the level of risk they face from corporate operations. Such increased perceptions of risk can lead to a loss of trust in an individual corporation or a whole industrial sector, and this can be exacerbated where stakeholders begin to actively seek out alternative risk discourses to inform themselves about possible risks of which they were previously unaware. We argue that effective statutory regulation could avoid these outcomes, and the loss of shareholder economic value that can flow from these outcomes.

Accounting, Oranizations and Society, 2011

Based on the development of a more refined conception of legitimacy than has been used in prior a... more Based on the development of a more refined conception of legitimacy than has been used in prior audit/assurance and sustainability accounting research, this paper analyses how the legitimation processes adopted by sustainability assurance practitioners in a large professional services firm have co-evolved with and impacted upon their attempts to develop this form of assurance practice – particularly the construction of assurance statements. The analysis reveals a complex and interdependent interplay between attempts at securing pragmatic, moral and cognitive legitimacy with three key constituencies – clients who commission the sustainability assurance services; (socially constructed) non-client users of the assurance statements; and the firm’s internal Risk Department that approves the wording of assurance statements. Securing these types of legitimacy is shown to require the adoption and alignment of varying legitimation strategies according to the constituency practitioners seek to influence. Developing pragmatic legitimacy with clients depends on establishing moral legitimacy with non-client users of assurance statements while securing moral legitimacy with non-client users is contingent on acquiring pragmatic legitimacy with the firm’s internal Risk Department. The practitioners’ legitimation strategies are underpinned by a commitment to opening up dialogue within the assurance process which is evident in their engagement with potential users of assurance and their efforts to expand assurance statement content and encourage user influence over what is assured. This provides a counterpoint to Power’s (1994, 1999) concerns about the tendency for new assurance forms to restrict debate and dialogue and reveals a rare empirical domain where Power’s (2003b) call for more customised and informative narratives in assurance reporting is being heeded.

Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 2004

This paper uses the lens of Anthony Giddens’ theories regarding the mechanisms which sustain late... more This paper uses the lens of Anthony Giddens’ theories regarding the mechanisms which sustain late-modernist societies [The Consequences of Modernity, Polity Press, Cambridge, 1990; Modernity and Self-Identity, Polity Press, Cambridge, 1991] to analyse the 2001 and 2002 accounting and audit failures at Enron, WorldCom and Andersen. Assessments of risk and trust play a central role in Giddens’ model, and this paper traces an escalating withdrawal of trust in systems of audit and accounting, and related increased perceptions of risk in corporate investment instruments. It also analyses regulatory responses aimed at sustaining or regaining public trust, and argues that failure to sustain such trust risks compromising the continued momentum of late modernity and the interests of people who benefit from institutions of late modernity.

Accounting and Business Research, 2010

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 2006

Accounting Organizations and Society, 2008

Despite mounting public, governmental and corporate interest in issues of non-governmental organi... more Despite mounting public, governmental and corporate interest in issues of non-governmental organisation (NGO) accountability, there are few academic studies investigating the emergence of accountability mechanisms in specific advocacy NGO settings. Drawing on the theoretical constructs of hierarchical and holistic accountability, this paper addresses this research gap by investigating recent developments in accountability practices at the Irish section of the human rights advocacy NGO Amnesty International. Through analysis of a series of in-depth interviews with managers in Amnesty Ireland, supported by extensive documentary scrutiny, this study examines reasons why Amnesty’s historical reliance on internal forms of accountability has been augmented with a range of ad hoc external accountability mechanisms. The study reveals that while managers favoured the development of holistic accountability mechanisms exhibiting accountability to a wide range of stakeholders, a hierarchical conception of accountability privileging a narrow range of (potentially) powerful stakeholders, has begun to dominate external accountability discourse and practice. It was widely perceived that this trend could, somewhat paradoxically, prove counterproductive to the achievement of Amnesty’s mission. Resolving this paradox will, at a minimum, involve Amnesty Ireland’s leadership becoming more open to and more knowledgeable about a broader, more holistic accountability conception. The paper considers the possible implications of these findings for the development of NGO holistic accountability practice more generally.

European Accounting Review, 2005

... had complied with all relevant legislation and required information to assess the performance... more ... had complied with all relevant legislation and required information to assess the performance of a ... 3 Recent public scrutiny of corrupt business and political practices has, however ... To meet the rising business demand for CSR services generally, PricewaterhouseCoopers' Dublin ...

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 2005

Purpose – This study presents an in-depth investigation of non-governmental organisations&amp... more Purpose – This study presents an in-depth investigation of non-governmental organisations' (NGO) perceptions of CSD (corporate social disclosure) in Ireland. It commences the process of addressing a lacuna in the CSD literature, whereby the perspectives of non-managerial stakeholders have been largely ignored. In particular, it responds to O'Dwyer call for research to examine the nature and extent of stakeholder demand

Public Management Review, 2010

This article, based on a plenary lecture given at the First International Conference on Sustainab... more This article, based on a plenary lecture given at the First International Conference on Sustainable Management of Public and Not for Profit Organizations held at the University of Bologna, Forli Campus, Italy in July 2009, provides an overview of issues in non-governmental organization (NGO) accountability that are of particular relevance in the current changing global context – in particular, a context combining economic slowdown and global warming.

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 2006

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 2007

... with a diverse range of external stakeholders, including Government, Irish and European civil... more ... with a diverse range of external stakeholders, including Government, Irish and European civil society organisations, media, academics and ... broader, longer-term societal impacts by establishing downward accountability regimes as part of their adoption of social accountability ...