I am a ‘warrior’ (activist) accountant, educator and researcher, and deeply committed to advancing sustainability in the education sector, particularly through the transformative power of accounting. Business is at the core of social and environmental issues, and accounting is the language of business. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has demanded that our systems change rapidly, and overhauling accounting will be part of that solution. My efforts have focused on integrating sustainability into accounting education, promoting the role of accounting in creating a better future, and engaging with various stakeholders to drive positive change, evidenced by my nomination for a Vice Chancellor Sustainability Award (2023).

Transforming First Year Accounting

As a Senior Lecturer at the Tasmanian School of Business and Economics (TSBE), I realised that accounting education needed a crucial overhaul. Soon after TSBE became a signatory of Principles of Responsible Management Education (PRME)  in late 2021, I instigated and fought for embedding these principles into the learning outcomes and/or assessment criteria rather than just the content of the unit where they could easily be missed, hence going beyond business as usual. I knew that first year accounting was the place to start as all Bachelor of Business students (approx. 350 per year) must complete this unit; this would expose many students to the power of accounting to be transformative in sustainability. I successfully redesigned the unit to teach students how accounting can measure and manage true business performance while considering environmental and social impacts. Once measured, these impacts can be managed and decisions will be informed by true performance, not just financial. The new unit integrates First Nations case studies, and provides real-life local examples of sustainability reporting.  The unit incorporates accounting for a circular economy and challenges students to think critically about an organisation’s use of resources and how businesses can contribute to an environmentally conscious future and still be profitable.

Transforming the Accounting Major in the Bachelor of Business

Taking this change further, I led staff in transforming the Accounting Major (co-Chair of the Accounting Major Transformation Project). This involved embedding sustainability into all accounting units, educating on the role accounting plays in providing an ‘account’ of social and environmental organisational responsibility. For example, the traditional auditing unit transformed to include the assurance of Sustainability Reporting and Integrated Reports, which exposed students to standards such as ISAE3000 and AA1000AS. Similarly, management accounting was transformed so that students can assess the impact that climate change will have on projected cash flows and forecasted budgets. Budgets also include non-financial aspects of performance (such as budgeting/target setting in relation to water use, GHG emissions). Students are taught various initiatives associated with reducing waste, such as waste audits, material flow cost accounting and life-cycle costing. They are also asked to rethink positive net present value outcomes with an ethical ‘lens’ to incorporate non-financial cost to disadvantaged groups.

Transforming High School Accounting

I believe enabling university education begins in high school. Understanding the importance of exposing high school students to the potential of accounting to create a sustainable future, I took the initiative to transform the traditional accounting unit in the University Connection Program (UCP) to one that reflects critical view of accounting being “…a technical, social and moral practice concerned with the sustainable utilisation of resources and proper accountability to stakeholders to enable the flourishing of organisations, people and nature” (Carnegie 2021, p. 69).  Grade 11 and 12 students address social and environmental responsibility, and account for non-financial costs and benefits in extended life cycles of assets and other decision making that is crucial for a sustainable future. These students have opened their minds to the power of accounting, “I love the in-depth research and study into the ethics in business and seeing how accountants help keep businesses accountable”.  The project is currently nominated for the Vice Chancellor Innovation Award (2023).

Collaborating to Develop the Undergraduate Certificate of Climate Accounting

Over 70% of harmful greenhouse gases are emitted from the business sector and this motivated the collaborative development of the Undergraduate Certificate in Climate Accounting.  We felt it was of utmost importance that our graduates are knowledgeable about this impact, and the ways they can be empowered to reduce emissions as industry members. Our business school will make important impacts in the abatement of climate change through graduates, educated in effective accounting reporting practices.

Bringing Sustainability Business Practitioners to the Classroom

I intentionally disrupt traditional perceptions about accounting professionals and accounting by allowing students to network with successful business owners who promote sustainability. Students have experienced Masterclasses, as exampled by Joss Fenton, and also learned about the true cost of cheap clothing and the Modern Slavery Act with Trisha Stricker (TEDx).  A space to network and learn about career opportunities for accountants in sustainability are made after the seminars.  Students claimed that they had no idea accounting played a role in the welfare of workers and ethical supply chain management and wished to now work in this area.

Promoting a Circular Economy

I challenge and change long standing views on accounting by demonstrating its power to create circularity, welfare, and a sustainable future.  Embedding my research (published in top ranked journals) into the classroom, I teach students the potential of a taxation system to create a circular economy, by encouraging investment in reuse and sustainable design rather than a linear ‘throw-away’ approach (see Austaxpolicy Blog). I also go above and beyond the typical teaching environment by exposing my students to real life examples of successful circular economy businesses through field trips like to The Recovery Circular Hub, where they learn and apply their accounting knowledge to circular economics and are encouraged to explore how businesses can adopt approaches to minimise waste and maximise resource efficiency, contributing to a more sustainable and environmentally conscious future.

Embedding Sustainable Development Goals into Business Curriculum (PRME)

My role as Associate Head of Learning and Teaching Performance has allowed me to influence others in change.  In line with our PRME signatory school goals, I advocated for the embedding of the SDGs in all units in both postgraduate and undergraduate courses. To avoid potential ‘curriculum drift’, I insisted on all TSBE units referencing (and therefore teaching) the SDGs in either their learning outcomes and/or assessment criteria, which extends beyond the minimum requirement but assures authenticity.  We are currently auditing all units to ensure the completion of this curriculum change.

First Nations Accounting Education

Australian First Nations peoples are extremely under-represented in university level accounting education and the profession. I have collaborated to study the reasons why and to find solutions to overcoming these barriers. Findings from “yarning” with key stakeholders indicate that early high school level exposure to the accounting profession, financial and cultural support, and a recognition of historical trauma would enable greater participation in accounting education. The traditional image of accounting is known to deter First Nations students, as accounting has been viewed solely as a tool of dispossession and domination. A contemporary view of accounting, one that embraces sustainability, aligns with First Nations culture, which based on kinship, social contact and spiritual enrichment and not focused on economic wealth accumulation.

In line with the results of my research and the belief that financial literacy empowers marginalised people, I developed the First Nations Accounting Mentoring Program to address the disparity between First Nations and non-Aboriginal accounting students and professionals. This program provides a unique opportunity for First Nations accounting students at UTAS to be mentored by a CPA (Certified Practising Accountant) Australia member, assisting with achieving educational outcomes in business studies. The program was the first of its kind in Australia.  I received an Indigenous Student Success Program Commonwealth Grant to develop the program and used these funds to employ a palawa man (First Nations Tasmanian) and recent graduate of the Bachelor of Business, Bradley Saggers. I was awarded a College Student Focus Award (2021) for the program and nominated for the Australian Financial Review Higher Education Award (2021).

I have ensured that First Nations are visible in our curriculum and school. I embed First Nations case studies in teaching and developed an accounting specific Acknowledgement of Country to all undergraduate accounting unit outlines. With the approval of First Nations academics Associate Professor Clair Andersen, Caroline Spotswood and Professor Greg Lehman, the Acknowledgement was written to recognise that accounting was an enabler of colonisation. It allows the reader to aim to teach and learn accounting systems that embrace accountability and empowerment, rather than oppression. Staff in the Accounting Discipline followed my example by adopting the Acknowledgement within all accounting units. I use this Acknowledgement at the start of meetings to assist with all staff reflecting on the role accounting has had in marginalising but its potential to create a better future.

Accounting Education for Incarcerated Students

To create inclusion, I am modifying delivery components of a first-year contemporary accounting unit to facilitate incarcerated students’ enrolment. Open University Students in a correctional facility can now study this unit as part of the Bachelor of Global Logistics and Maritime Management.

Research in Sustainability

My research in the circular economy has led to recommendations for tax reform to encourage circularity.  The paper has been “critical for Australia to reduce the 73 million tonnes of waste production (increasing annually) per annum and for Tasmania to lead the circular economic transition” (Bradford Mashman Churchill Fellow, Managing Director Recovery (Tas) Pty Ltd, The Recovery Circular Economic Hub. 2023).  I am currently collaborating with industry to create a ‘blueprint’ of Tasmanian circular champion businesses to allow other entities to follow the success of such businesses.

Aligning with SDG 3 (Good Health and Wellbeing) and SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production), my research has led to real change in the social and environmental impacts of local festivals. All the environmental strategies recommended in our consultancy report were adopted, and the Cygnet Folk Festival is reported to be one of the best in Tasmania in terms of waste management (Veolia 2021).  In addition, the festival organisers were able to use our findings (their positive effect on social capital) for further promotion and funding.   My research in enabling First Nations high school students’ access to accounting education supports reducing inequalities (SDG 10).  To create transparency and accountability in worker’s right I won an industry grant and have collaborated to develop an Accountability Framework for Seasonal Workers (SDG 8).  Again disrupting the traditional view of accounting, we are exposing historical cases of the use of accounting to empower marginalised groups, such as orphans and convicts, so that we can apply this knowledge to current disadvantaged groups.

Australian Centre for Social and Environmental Research (ACSEAR)

I had a fundamental role in bringing international experts in social and environmental accounting research together by organising the ACSEAR 2021 conference.  This led to sharing of ideas and networking to further our impact in these areas, building strong collaborations for improvements in sustainability through business research and education.