Accounting's great retreat: decline of the public sphere and the malaise of reform accounting

Glen Lehman

Chapter 29 in Handbook of Critical Environmental Accountability and Sustainability, 2026, pp 431-453 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter examines the recent trends that have shaped our understanding of modern accountability relationships. These relationships involve how corporations relate to their external stakeholders and other significant parties. A continuum of ideas is introduced to investigate these obligations and suggest some ways forward. In particular, liberal, communicative and radical arguments are discussed to consider how accounting might democratise the institutions of civil society, thereby providing ideas about how accounting can contribute to the current financialisation and ecological problems confronting modern communities. The approach is necessarily a theoretical one and explores whether accounting for the public interest can ever satisfy accountability relationships. One aspect of accounting's public role can be critiqued by examining the extent to which it provides common and public goods.

Keywords: Habermas; Lauglin; Markets; Public Sphere (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781802201765
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