The role of accounting in supporting adaptation to climate change

The study is one of the first concerned with the topic of accounting and climate change adaptation. It proposes that the accounting role can support organisational climate change adaptation by performing the following functions: (i) a risk assessment function (assessing vulnerability and adaptive capacity), (ii) a valuation function (valuing adaptation costs and benefits) and (iii) a disclosure function (disclosure of risk associated with climate change impacts). This study synthesises and expands on existing research and practice in environmental accounting and sets the scene for future research and practice in the emerging area of accounting for climate risk

Big data techniques in auditing research and practice: current trends and future opportunities

This paper analyzes the use of big data techniques in auditing, and finds that the practice is not as widespread as it is in other related fields. We first introduce contemporary big data techniques to promote understanding of their potential application. Next, we review existing research on big data in accounting and finance. In addition to auditing, our analysis shows that existing research extends across three other genealogies: financial distress modelling, financial fraud modelling, and stock market prediction and quantitative modelling. Auditing is lagging behind the other research streams in the use of valuable big data techniques. A possible explanation is that auditors are reluctant to use techniques that are far ahead of those adopted by their clients, but we refute this argument. We call for more research and a greater alignment to practice. We also outline future opportunities for auditing in the context of real-time information and in collaborative platforms and peer-to-peer marketplaces

Interdisciplinary Research Maps: A new technique for visualizing research topics.

This article introduces Interdisciplinary Research Maps as a novel visualization technique to assist with interdisciplinary research analytics and to map common (and distinct) topics across publications from different disciplines. We detail the method for this technique which is based on entity linking and illustrate its application to a sample of articles sourced from the top business/management and environmental sciences journals. Both fields have separately been criticized for a lack of interdisciplinary research to co-create insights for tackling pressing environmental issues such as climate change. Our mapping approach provides a starting point for exploring similarities and differences in research topics across these fields. The mapping technique introduced here has broader applicability to facilitate the creation and exchange of knowledge across fields. We discuss avenues for visualization techniques to bridge the different fields by focusing on identifying common concepts to provide a basis for future analysis

Air pollution, human health and climate change: newspaper coverage of Australian bushfires

We examine 512 Australian newspaper articles published over a five-year period (2016–2021) that report on air pollution due to bushfire smoke and resulting human health impacts. We analyze to what extent these articles provide information on the possible range of negative health impacts due to bushfire smoke pollution, and to what extent they report on climate change as a driver behind increased bushfire risk. A temporary surge in articles in our sample occurs during the unusually severe 2019/2020 Black Summer bushfires. However, most articles are limited to general statements about the health impacts of bushfire smoke, with only 50 articles in the sample (9%) mentioning an explicit link between bushfire smoke inhalation and cardiovascular and respiratory problems or increases in mortality risk. About 148 of the 512 articles in the sample (29%) established a connection between bushfire risk and climate change. We carry out a further keyword analysis to identify differences in reporting by Australia’s two main publishing groups (News Corp Australia and Nine Entertainment), which shows that articles in News Corp Australia outlets offered the lowest climate change coverage. We suggest that more detailed communication strategies are needed to strengthen public preparedness for future impacts

How firm responses to natural disasters strengthen community resilience: a stakeholder-based perspective

Natural disasters challenge a community’s resilience. Prior community resilience research has focused on the responses of public entities, such as emergency services and government agencies. However, for-profit firms are also engaged in responding to natural disasters. This article explores two aspects of how firms participate in building community resilience to natural disasters: First, the article synthesizes research on business continuity management, corporate philanthropy, and emerging evidence that firms engage in the business of disaster response into a coherent typology of for-profit firm responses to natural disasters. Second, the article draws on stakeholder theory to distinguish between firms adopting firm-centric postures (focused inwardly on firm outcomes) versus firms adopting community-centric postures (focused outwardly on stakeholders), with respect to responding to natural disasters. We theorize relationships between firm- versus community-centric postures and different community resilience outcomes. The article concludes by discussing contributions to stakeholder theory and outlines future research directions

Patterns of firm responses to different types of natural disasters

This article examines the relationships between disaster type and firms’ disaster responses. We draw on a unique dataset of 2,164 press releases related to the occurrence of 206 natural disasters (hurricanes, flooding, tornadoes, and wildfires) over a 10-year period (2005-2014) to analyze how firm responses are shaped by the type of disaster it faces. Firms play an increasingly important role in disaster response. We find that firms engage in more anticipatory responses when the type of disaster a firm faces exhibits even impact dispersion and high expected recurrence, and provides substantial warning. Our study draws a relationship between physical geography, disaster type, and more anticipatory firm responses which can improve how firms and communities respond to the risks posed by different types of natural disasters. The article concludes by outlining an agenda for future research on firm responses to natural disasters

Determinants of the perceived importance of organisational adaptation to climate change in the Australian energy industry

Climate change will pose considerable risk to organisations in the 21st century. However, organisational adaptation to climate change has not yet received much attention in the management literature. Drawing on strategic choice theory, we put forward a model proposing that environmental attitudes and climate change knowledge are antecedents of how important adaptation is perceived to be by organisational decision-makers and that the perceived risk towards climate change acts as a mediator in this relationship. We tested the model with responses from 101 managers in the Australian energy industry. Findings of the study show that both environmental attitudes and climate change knowledge have a significantly positive effect on the perceived importance of climate change adaptation and that this relationship is mediated by risk perception. The study highlights the need to draw climate knowledge to the attention of executives and discusses avenues for future research, including the extension of the findings to other industries and settings