Management accounting and control in the adoption of triple bottom line in circular-economy startups: a loosely-coupled systems perspective

Purpose The circular economy has become an established pathway toward sustainability. The purpose of this study is to understand how management accounting and control support the triple bottom line (TBL) approach in the context of the circular economy. Design/methodology/approach The authors draw on the theory of loose coupling to understand how the multiple perspectives of the TBL are balanced. They present a multiple-case study of four forerunner circular-economy startup companies in Finland, two platform-economy companies that provide services to support the circular economy and two manufacturing companies with circular material flows. Findings They found that the loose coupling of the TBL element enables flexibility and balancing of sustainability goals. In addition, they found that despite limited resources and standardized frameworks, management accounting and control practices enabled startups to balance economic, environmental and social objectives by facilitating transparency, prioritization and responsiveness across the TBL dimensions. Practical implications The findings present real-life practices to develop sustainability management control in small businesses. Originality/value They contribute to the circular economy and management accounting and control research by increasing understanding about the ways in which the TBL framework is loosely coupled in small businesses.