Accounting digitalization in the quest for environmental sustainability

Abstract

The paper presents the state of the art of accounting digitalization focused on sustainability issues. The paper reviewed recent literature in this area and identified that the most prevailing assumption is related to the capacity of digitalized sustainability accounting to improve decision-making and support environmental protection. However, there are also concerns about the difficulties of accounting studies related to digitalization in the quest for sustainability to integrate with two related subfields: (i) accounting information systems and, (ii) sustainability accounting. Additionally, it has been claimed that accountants today are reluctant to lead the digital transformation of accounting, and this may cause a reduced legitimacy of accountants due to lack of digital savviness. This paper explores in the literature review the different topics that are currently explored, and the subfield currently leading this research. The results highlight the importance of the aforementioned integration in research and suggest avenues to explore the interplay between accounting, digitalization technologies, information systems, and environmental protection.