Forging the Future: Climate Change Disclosure, Role Expectations, and the Identity of Professional Accountants

Inspired by the urgency of the climate change impacts and the changing context of the accounting profession, the present study broadly reviews the climate change disclosure (CCD) literature, explores the role expectations of accountants in climate change accounting (CCA), and informs the most important (salient) identity of professional accountants in CCA and sustainability reporting. It presents three individual studies, comprising of i) a comprehensive review on CCD literature with a conceptual framework and future agendas (published paper), ii) the multiple stakeholders’ role expectations of accountants in CCA within the academic and professional bodies’ literature, iii) the salient identity of professional accountants in CCA and sustainability reporting. Based on literature review, documentary analysis, and a survey, and applying social identity, role, and role-identity salience theories, the study offers a simplified thematic understanding of the CCD literature, highlights a sustainability-focused shift in role expectations of accountants in CCA, and identifies the achievements of sustainable development goals (SDGs) through CCA and sustainability reporting is the most important identity of the majority of accountants. Building on empirical evidence and theoretical foundations, the study contributes to the comprehensiveness of the CCD literature, understanding of the accountants’ roles in CCA, and perceptions of professional accountants’ salient identity in the changing sustainability-related regulatory context. In this way, future studies, professional bodies, and regulators will find these studies useful in constructing accountants’ identities in shaping the future accountancy profession to achieve the SDGs.