Accounting Information and the Accounting Function in Sustainability Management: Case Studies with Pioneers in Germany and the UK

The importance of managing extra-financial aspects has been receiving popularity among larger companies with more than half of Germany's top 200 companies publishing a sustainability report. The collection and verification of such Information seem to be rather straightforward processes, yet Information organisation and use Gould be supported by the accounting function of the company. For the successful corporate sustainability management, it is required that company-specific non-financial Information is managed for internal decision purposes and not just derived from reporting Information requirements due to the differences between the purposes of both. This paper discusses the management of sustainability-related Information for managerial purposes, looking closely at the practices and actors involved. Of particular interest are factors which influence by whom and how such Information is managed. By opting for a Sample of sixteen British and German companies, a variety of different situations is investigated, throwing light not only an company-specific challenges and practices, but also an sector and country-related ones.