Abstract
Responding to calls to incorporate biodiversity matters into accounting research, we attempt to provide a balance by moving away from the conventional focus on the reporting of biodiversity impacts and activities by public and private sector organisations, by including the role of non-governmental organisations active in the conservation space (CNGOs), as well as their interaction with the public and private sectors. In particular, we confine our study to the biodiversity disclosures of South African state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and CNGOs active in South Africa. To understand the relationship between SOEs and CNGOs we use publicly available disclosures to explore the extent which these entities interact and collaborate. We find that although several CNGOs operate in South Africa, we could not find evidence of formalised relationships between these SOEs and CNGOs, with Eskom being the notable exception. Notwithstanding the lack of formalised relationships, we found that the disclosures of CNGOs appeared to confirm that CNGO advocacy or activism could serve as alternative credibility enhancing mechanisms to authenticate SOE biodiversity disclosures and provides a basis to hold them to account for their contribution to environmental conservation or degradation.
Presenters
Barry AckersProfessor of Auditing, College of Accounting Sciences, University of South Africa, South Africa Adeyemi Adebayo
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Auditing, University of South Africa, Gauteng, South Africa
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Human Impacts and Responsibility
KEYWORDS
Biodiversity, Conservation, Extinction, Accounting, NGOs, South Africa
