“Come play with us!” A grassroots research agenda for accounting and the circular economy

ABSTRACT

The dominant global capitalist economic model harms ecosystems and humxn populations. In attempting to reduce these harms, its linear foundational elements characterised by rapid production, mass consumption, and ineffective disposal necessitate a shift to more circular approaches. Embracing circularity is complex and requires several elements in addition to shifting business approaches such as redefining value, discarding traditional competitive practices in favour of collaboration, and developing appropriate tools for analysis. Given both its ubiquitous role in business and its ability to facilitate change, it appears a natural extension for accounting to serve an essential function in the circular transition. With this in mind, this editorial serves a twofold purpose. It first introduces the present special issue on “Accounting for the Circular Economy” and contextualises the circular economy concept. Secondly, it relies on insights from interviews with circular economy experts to propose a grassroots agenda for accounting within the circular economy context. Given the pressing need to address environmental and social challenges, we hope this editorial and the articles published in the special issue will spark further research and practical transformations toward a more regenerative and just economic and social system.

KEYWORDS:

• Accounting
• circular economy
• grassroots research agenda
• linear economy
• interdisciplinarity

Acknowledgments

We thank all the authors who participated and submitted their work to the special issue on Accounting for the Circular Economy and the support of the editorial team of the Accounting Forum during this difficult pandemic period. Without everyone’s patience, this special issue would certainly not have existed. We also greatly appreciate the time and critical insights shared by all our interviewees. Such generosity and reflexivity are key to academic success. We hope this grassroots agenda reflects their hopes and aspirations and will trigger positive change. We appreciated the feedback Charles Cho (editor) and two anonymous reviewers provided to help us improve the manuscript. We also want to thank our three research assistants, whose excellent work helped us tremendously: Pe’er Krut, Jessica Lee, and Signy Matthews. Funding from the Ivey CPA Ontario Centre for Accounting and the Public Interest is gratefully acknowledged. The interpretation is ours and should not be ascribed to others.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 We rely on the alternative spelling of human (i.e. humxn) as a gender-inclusive expression that repudiates the traditions that define all individuals by referencing a male norm.

2 See for example in France : https://expertises.ademe.fr/expertises/economie-circulaire#:~:text=Selon%20l'ADEME%2C%20l',en%20d%C3%A9veloppant%20le%20bien%20%C3%AAtre and in Québec (Canada): https://vitrinelinguistique.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca/fiche-gdt/fiche/26560537/economie-circulaire#en.

3 This sub-section is based on and adapted from the historical overview developed by Rodrigue and Romi (Forthcoming).

4 https://www.circle-economy.com/programmes/finance/coalition-circular-accounting

5 All participants signed an inform consent form prior to participating, as per our ethics approval granted by (redacted for blind review) approval number (redacted for blind review).

6 The coding tree is available from the authors upon request.

7 Concept coined by the team of Innovation North, Ivey Business School (source: personal discussions). https://innovationnorth.ca/

8 https://www.efrag.org/Assets/Download?assetUrl=%2Fsites%2Fwebpublishing%2FSiteAssets%2F12%2520Draft%2520ESRS%2520E5%2520Resource%2520use%2520and%2520circular%2520economy.pdf&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1

9 This was confirmed by our accounting practitioner, who mentioned that a significant share of his time was spent on providing the business case and similar practices (Interviewee 14).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Ivey CPA Ontario Centre for Accounting and the Public Interest.