Management Accounting Research Opportunities in Climate Change Reporting

Abstract

Climate risk is a critically important challenge for society. Current accounting-related efforts include initiatives by regulators to promulgate climate risk disclosure standards, focusing on disclosure of nonfinancial and forward-looking information. These proposals are certain to evolve over time. With management accounting research’s focus on decision-making and performance evaluation using nonfinancial performance measures and effective management control systems, management accounting researchers are in a strong position to provide unique input into the ongoing development of these reporting standards. In this commentary, we discuss topics where management accounting researchers can contribute to the standard-setting efforts. Contributing to these efforts requires a change in mindset for management accounting researchers from primarily focusing on internal and potentially idiosyncratic decision-makers to a broader audience that includes external providers of capital. However, the reward to doing so is participation in interesting and important research avenues that can have a real impact on society.