Editorial vol 16 iss 5

Abstract

This Special issue of Australasian Accounting Business and Finance Journal (AABFJ) comes out of the SCMHRDTECHNOLOGY, ECONOMICS, ANALYTICS AND MANAGEMENT (S-TEAM) CONFERENCE 2021. This is the second conference virtually organized by Symbiosis Centre for Management and Human Resource Development (SCMHRD) in collaboration with EM Normandie Business School, France. The antecedents and consequents of Environment, Social and Governance practices have been of interest in recent decades especially its relationship with United Nations sustainable development goals (UNSDG). For example: 74 SCOPUS indexed articles have been published in last two and half years on the convergence of thoughts around ESG practices, sustainable reporting and their linkages with UNSDG. Hence in S-Team 2021 Conference one of the tracks was devoted to the topic of “Sustainable Accountability, Circular Economy and Corporate Financial Performance.” The track engaged discussion on sustainable finance, sustainable reporting, financial inclusion and their implications on corporate financial performances. The myopic focus on financial performance negatively impacts the firms’ long term corporate sustainability (Lo et al., 2021). The dual advantage of environmental and economic performance is leading its way towards the concept of circular economy with the core theme of extended usage of products, materials or resources (Gregson et al., 2015). Circular economy leads to sustainable business management impacting strategic planning, cost management, supply chain management, quality management, environmental management, process management, logistics and reverse logistics, service management, and research and development (Barros et al., 2021). However, there is dearth of studies connecting the aspects of circular economy and financial reporting or corporate sustainable performance of firms (Gunarathne et al., 2021). This has created a room of opportunity for researchers to explore and observe empirical evidences in this niche domain. Firms need to align their strategic plans around circular economy theme as many countries like China has announced it as a part of its Economic and Sustainable Plans (13th-five-year plan, 2016–2020). Kuo and Chang (2021) found empirical evidences of higher sustainable growth rate and return on equity by firms which disclosed more aligned financial or sustainable reporting to circular economic goal. This Special Issue is aiming to open up conversation among scholars on sustainable financial reporting & practice with respect to the dynamic geo-political, economic and technological business environment. In line with this aim, Arora and Sharma (2022) analyse the impact of