Democratizing Accounting Technologies: the Potential of the Sustainability Assessment Model (SAM)

Abstract

There is widespread recognition both in and outside of the accounting discipline of the need for 'accountings' that facilitate more participatory forms of decision-making and accountability. This is particularly evident in the social and environmental accounting literature, which has long sought to take pluralism seriously. Theoretically, these calls are embedded in the democratic rather than capitalist traditions of neo-liberal Western societies. This article draws on the work of ecological economist Peter Söderbaum to argue the case for a 'positional' approach to decision-modelling. It also builds on Baxter, Bebbington, Cutteridge & Harvey (2003) to illustrate how this approach could be operationalised through development of the sustainability assessment model (SAM).