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ABSTRACT
This paper highlights the immense contribution of Professor Jeffrey Unerman to the field of sustainability accounting. It reflects on how he, together with his co-authors, initiated and advanced a research stream on non-governmental organisation (NGO) accounting and accountability. The paper reviews some of Jeffrey’s most influential work and explores three aspects that are of particular relevance to current debates on NGO accountability: accounting for the unintended and unforeseen consequences of NGO activities; impediments and resistance to broader NGO accountability; and striving for enhanced downward accountability. Further, the paper highlights how Jeffrey’s research has inspired other accounting scholars to investigate issues of NGO accountability and offers several directions for future research in this area.
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank the editors, Michelle Rodrigue and Helen Tregidga, and the two anonymous reviewers for their helpful suggestions to improve the paper. I am grateful to Brendan O’Dwyer, Susan O’Leary, and Gloria Agyemang for reading earlier versions of this paper.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Tributes to Jeffrey were provided by the Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal (Maroun and Hazelton Citation2021; O’Dwyer Citation2021), the Centre for Social and Environmental Accounting Research (CSEAR Citation2020; CSEAR-UK Citation2020), The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (Lindsay Citation2020), Lancaster University (Pawlina Citation2020), the Pentland Centre for Sustainability in Business (Citation2021), Royal Holloway University of London (Citation2020), and many others.
2 University students in the Netherlands are required to complete a research thesis as final examination of all Bachelor (undergraduate) and Master (postgraduate) programmes.
3 Spain sadly defeated the Netherlands.
4 NGDO refers to non-governmental development organisation.
5 Professor Gloria Agyemang, Professor Brendan O’Dwyer, and Associate Professor Mariama Awumbila.