What's new about New accounts? Assessing change proposals for social and environmental accounting

This paper considers recent calls to rejuvenate social and environmental accounting, particularly Gray, Bierman, and Malpas (2014). They see the history of SEA as one of few successes and many failures, warranting radical change. Others consider change-potentials of SEA as under-recognised. SEA faces a conundrum: has it failed? If so, why? And what to do now? I find SEA has contributed to its own ills, and that change-potentials of accounting remain under-explored. I suggest tensions between SEA and accounting may be ameliorated by revisioning the relationship. Migration outside the orbit of accounting without doing so invites unintended consequences. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.