Accountability and accounting for fisheries – six decades of reporting by the Electricity Supply Board of Ireland, 1935–1993

Abstract

PurposeThis study aims to contribute to the relatively limited historic literature on social and environmental accounting/accountability. More specifically, the study explores accounting and accountability for fisheries over time and determines potential legitimacy relations as conveyed through reporting.Design/methodology/approachA content analysis method is used to analyse a fisheries-related section of an annual report of a state-owned electricity firm for 56 years (1935/36–1993). The time frame analysed is a period when environmental or social reporting was, in general, informal and not mandated. However, accountability was established for the company under study, through the legally mandated provision of (unspecific/discretional) information about fisheries activities. A lens evoking legitimacy relationships as a dyad is utilised.FindingsThe fisheries reporting within the case organisation is an early example of recognition of the important effects of business activities on the environment and biodiversity. The findings of the analyses suggest the content aligns with what may be anticipated in a contemporary setting. Drawing on trends noted from the content analysis, three potential legitimacy relationships are identified around the fisheries reporting. Only one is determined as a complete legitimacy relationship.Research limitations/implicationsThe research is limited in that it is an analysis of one case in a single context. Also, the content analysis methods used were developed specifically for the study, which may limit their application. Finally, the data source used, and the historic nature of the study, to some extent limits the ability to determine some legitimacy relationships.Originality/valueThis study offers some insights on the historic nature of environmental reporting from a fisheries perspective in the Northern Hemisphere. The longitudinal nature of the analysis also offers insights into how the content of the reporting changed over time. Additionally, the use of a relatively new approach to operationalising legitimacy may prove useful for future researchers in the accounting discipline, especially given recent concerns on how the concept of legitimacy has been utilised in such research.

Exploring the historical roots of environmental and ecological accounting from the dawn of human consciousness

“…They all provide interdisciplinary insights into environmental and ecological accounting, with the papers integrating environmental and ecological accounting, reporting and recording with a whole range of diverse disciplines including hydrogeology, economic anthropology, historiography, infographics and aesthetics. In terms of motivation underlying these early forms of environmental and/or ecological accounting, the driving force behind attempts to preserve the environment and nature is to ensure a steady and healthy flow of natural capital for the industry concerned: trees for the Chinese forestry industry (Wang and Hu, 2023); fish stocks for the fisheries industry (Quinn et al, 2023); animals for the fur trade industry (McBride et al, 2023). In the case of the amelioration of air and water (Bigoni et al, 2022) the intention is to improve societal health and welfare, with an aim of growing the population, again deriving from a recognition that humans could not thrive where groundwater and air were contaminated.…”