Evaluating the impact of current sustainability accounting practices on accounting reporting : an empirical study

Abstract EN

Purpose – This paper aims to address and assess the efforts of different international organizations regarding sustainability accounting practices, and how sustainability reporting practitioners face many challenges in preparing sustainability reports and disclosures that affect accounting reporting.

Design/methodology/approach – This study collects and analyzes data from 40 respondents through an online survey.

The respondents represent practitioners from various industrial companies in Egypt to see the challenges they face to prepare sustainability reports.

Also, to investigate the reporting patterns and standards they follow.

Findings – The study found that numerous challenges are affecting the adoption of sustainability accounting, one of which is the existence of competing frameworks and the absence of a unified framework for sustainability accounting to improve accounting reporting.

Research limitations/implications – As one of the few empirically-based, theoretically informed investigations evaluating the efforts of different organizations in sustainability accounting and the impact of these practices on accounting reporting in literature and application.

This study provides insights into evaluating current sustainability accounting practices in Egyptian companies.

Its findings, therefore, serve as a foundational basis for further empirical and theoretical inquiry.

Originality/value – This study participates in the literature by identifying the significance of the impact of sustainability accounting practices on the quality of accounting reporting by adopting a survey to obtain evidence about the real practice of sustainability accounting in Egypt