Exploring Accounting for the Ocean: Utilisation of the Sociology of Worth to Assess Current Practice and Develop Propositions for Holistic Accounting

The world’s oceans are vital for planetary health as well as food and energy security. Recently though, they have been increasingly considered as a solution to stagnating economic growth, with ocean resources and ocean spaces being used for both public and private benefit. This puts pressure on the sustainability of ocean ecosystems. These complex challenges have meant a need for an integrated understanding of and a more holistic approach to ocean accounting and governance. We adopt the Sociology of Worth to evaluate the application of the Ocean Accounts framework according to a range of competing and compromising perspectives on the concept of the common good within a contested case study. We find that Ocean Accounts fall short on key social and cultural aspects. However, there is scope to draw on alternative accounts to better inform the use of oceans. While the accounting literature presents a plethora of studies on environmental sustainability, studies on accounting for our ocean are limited. This is the first paper in accounting to focus on the Ocean Accounts framework.