Smart technologies influence the accounting and reporting environment and pose several challenges to academics and practitioners. In this scenario, Big Data (BD) and BD analytics could play a crucial role in improving management control and accounting practices, as well as the accuracy of financial, non-financial and sustainability reporting. This paper is the first to draft the impact of BD and BD analytics in the management of non-financial and sustainable information. It involved a review of the literature connecting BD to sustainability accounting and reporting, using document-based data covering the 2010-2022 period. The paper’s main contribution, by applying a qualitative approach, is the mapping of current research on this emerging topic. Elaborating on previous scholarly contributions, it provides a first account of this research area and recommends possible directions for future studies.
Keywords: Sustainability reporting, Big data, Sustainability accounting, Big data analytics.
Galeotti M., Lombardi R., Paoloni P., Roberto R. (2022). Big data and sustainability reports: The current approach to non-accounting data management, Management Control, Suppl. 2, pp 95-116. DOI: 10.3280/MACO2022-002-S1005.