Accounting and accountability in the European Union context

Accounting and accountability may be “old” terms, but they are continuously affected by new global trends. In both academic and business contexts, they can be used in many different forms—accounting can be seen as a social and moral practice, and accountability as a “responsible” form of accounting. Recent changes in European Union legislation are transforming how these concepts are applied. Large companies are required to modify their reporting policies to reflect Environmental, Social and Governance (also referred to as “sustainability”) issues. This regulatory challenge can require substantial new corporate disclosures for large companies and also has consequences for small and medium-sized enterprises. The chapter aims to investigate such changes by analysing the main features of the EU standards for sustainability reporting that are influencing both accounting and accountability concepts. In this perspective, the desired output is interoperability among different rules and standards, and more integration and connectivity between financial and non-financial (sustainability) reporting.