Sustainability reporting and the education of accounting professionals using examples from selected universities

Purpose:The aim of the paper is to evaluate the curricula of selected universities educating accounting professionals in terms of preparing graduates for sustainability reporting.Design/methodology/approach: The paper analyses literature sources on the essence of sustainability and its reporting.The content of accounting courses and their corresponding learning outcomes were analysed to determine the scope of student education for sustainability reporting.The study covered three selected universities educating future accounting professionals.For the empirical research, the method of analysing the curriculum content of the surveyed units and comparative analysis was used.Findings: An evaluation of the curricula of the selected universities showed that they include learning outcomes and content on sustainability reporting.However, the range of skills related to this courses matter is typically limited.This fact raises the need to expand the course content to include issues related to increasing reporting requirements. Research limitations/implications:The study is only exploratory and aims to determine the degree to which future accounting professionals are prepared for sustainability reporting.Since only to the fact that only three universities were analysed, it is difficult to generalise the results obtained; nevertheless, the findings highlight the need to review and possibly adapt the curricula at all universities educating future accountants to the changing requirements of the reporting obligations of business entities.Originality/value: The research conducted is novel in that, in practice, no review of university curricula for their compliance with sustainability reporting needs has been performed to date.The article can serve as a basis for efforts to modify curricula in line with the needs of business practice.