We’re only in it for the money? Developing sustainable literacy through management accounting curriculum

Abstract

This article addresses how and why introductory management accounting courses could contribute to sustainable literacy. Drawing on pragmatic constructivism we develop a course design. We base our discussions on teaching experience from two Business Schools. The proposed course design discusses sustainability around five common themes; (i) fundamental concepts, (ii) what are ‘net income’ and ‘value creation’, (iii) product costing and short-term decision-making, (iv) capital budgeting decisions, and (v) performance measurement. We demonstrate that it is possible to introduce sustainability and how it also allows for a better understanding of management accounting as such. Fundamentally, it is illustrated that critical thinking can be integrated at an introductory level in a management accounting course. As such, this study helps develop students’ sustainable literacy. By allowing sustainability to be a natural part of the standard subjects, the article claims that the subject area contributes to the future demands on management accountants as well.