How to collaborate with natural science and reporting benchmarks

You can join us in person or join us on Teams.

Morning session

11:30-12:30 - “How organisational science can collaborate productively with natural science” (by Prof. Jan Bebbington, Lancaster University Management School)

• On campus: Dalhousie Building, room 2S13  
• Teams: Join us on Teams

Afternoon session

14:00-15:30 - “Accounting, calculation, and accountability: the case of nonfinancial reporting benchmarks" (by Dasha Smirnow, Jan Bebbington and Bertrand Charron)

• On campus: Dalhousie Building, room 2G12
• Teams: Join us on Teams

Third party benchmarking of nonfinancial reporting is a feature of organisational life that builds upon other forms of comparative evaluation of corporate data. Benchmarking of nonfinancial reporting, however, has not attracted widespread attention in the accounting literature even though it is a potential mechanism for enhancing transparency and accountability for reporting on grand challenges. This paper addresses this gap by exploring benchmarking through a two-stage investigation. A sample of nonfinancial benchmarks are presented and characterised before the paper moves to an in-depth examination of the operation of a benchmark that ranked global salmon producers from 2011 until 2017. Through working with the producer of the benchmark, the paper illuminates how the benchmark was constructed and the decisions that are made in this area of practice. In addition, the impact of the benchmark on reporting quality over time is examined. Understanding what happens inside the ‘black box’ of benchmarking provides the basis from which we draw methodological insights into the world of practice with the aim of enhancing our understanding how benchmarking impacts corporate accountability.

Host: Dr. Stavros Kourtzidis