ABSTRACT
The neoliberal implosion of ownership, and the paradoxical existence of the firm as a site of both reproducing and endangering life profitably, brought another concept to the forefront in redefining corporate accountability. This chapter explores the meaning and elements of the notion of sustainability. It focuses on the three interrelated dimensions of sustainability: economic, social, and ecological. The chapter explains sustainability's neoliberal logic. It also explores the issue of how management accounting responded to the sustainability agenda. The chapter provides a conceptual schema to understand management accounting's response to sustainability. It also provides a four-way analysis of how sustainability is incorporated into management discourses at the corporate apex: the corporate accountability reaction to sustainability; strategizing sustainability; envisioning sustainability; and sustainability as a postulate of strategic positioning. The chapter discusses the operational dimension of management accounting's response to sustainability. It also discusses a biopolitical explanation for the evolution of the so called 'oxymoron'.
