Professor Roger Burritt

Roger Burritt is Professor in Accounting at the School of Commerce. For over twenty years he has conducted research into and published widely on the relationship between the language of business, as captured by accounting, and its relationship with the physical and social environments in which business operates. Although ‘environmental accounting’ is the term used to describe his area of interest, in recent times analysis has been extended towards the broader complex notion of corporate sustainability accounting.

In 2008 Roger coauthored a monograph entitled 'Integrated Approaches to Environmental Sustainability' published by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants in the UK. The publication examines the relationships in six Australian companies between environmental management systems, external environmental reporting, stakeholder engagement, and drivers of organisational change leading to improved environmental performance.

Also in 2008 Roger coauthored a research book examining 'Environmental Management Accounting for Cleaner Production' published by Springer, Dordrecht, Netherlands.

Roger has received support from Australian Research Council (ARC)Discovery Grants to support his recent research activities. Between 2005-2007 an ARC grant facilited enquiry into the interrelationship between environmental management, environmental reporting, stakeholder engagement and environmental performance. Between 2009-2011, as co-investigator, Roger is conducting an ARC funded examination of the management of on-farm water storage for sustainable and safe catchments in Australia.

Roger was also associated with a four year project investigating the operation of environmental management accounting in small and medium sized enterprises in South-East Asia, resourced by the Department of Education in Germany and the Asian Society for Environmental Protection in Thailand.

Professor Burritt's experience includes being Director of the Centre for Accounting, Governance and Sustainability at the University of South Australia; an invited member of the United Nations Division for Sustainable Development Environmental Management Accounting international experts group advising governments throughout the world; a member of the Steering Committee of the Environmental Management Accounting Network (Asia Pacific); and international coordinator of the Asia Pacific Centre for Environmental Accountability, a group with branches at over twenty universities established in countries throughout the region.

Roger was Convenor of the 7th Australian - Centre for Social and Environmental Accounting Research (A-CSEAR 2008) conference held in Adelaide between 7-9 December 2008.

International Coordinator Asia Pacific Centre for Environmental Accountability

• Environmental accounting and reporting, in particular environmental management accounting.
• Management control systems.

Roger has long term and close ties with the Accountancy profession and is a fellow of CPA Australia (FCPA), a Chartered Accountant with the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia (CA); a Certified Management Accountant (CMA); a life time Associate of the Chartered Institute of Bankers in the UK (ACIB); and a member of the Environment Institute of Australia and New Zealand (AEIANZ).

PhD ANU

M. Phil Oxon

B. Arts (Joint Honours)(Lcr)

• Environmental accounting and reporting
• Sustainability accounting, triple bottom line and corporate social responsibility accounting
• Environmental management accounting

A taxonomy of sustainable business has been published as a working paper by the Desert Knowledge Cooperative Research Centre by Amanda Carter and Roger Burritt (No.37, 2009)

Monograph published in 2008: Integrated Approaches to Environmental Sustainability, published by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants in the UK. The publication examines relationships in six Australian companies between environmental management systems, external environmental reporting, stakeholder engagement, and drivers of organisational change leading to improved environmental performance.

Edited research book published in 2008: Environmental Management Accounting for Cleaner Production Series: Eco-Efficiency in Industry and Science , Vol. 24 Schaltegger, S.; Bennett, M.; Burritt, R.L.; Jasch, C. (Eds.) 2008, XVIII, 502 p., Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4020-8912-1.

Roger has been involved over a number of years with the development and application of a pragmatic framework for environmental management accounting. His interests are reflected in the following publications.

Schaltegger, S., Hahn, T. and R.L. Burritt (2002) ‘EMA: Links to Management Systems and Stakeholders’ Part II in Environmental Management Accounting, Policies and Linkages United Nations, New York, 2002, pp. 87-274.

Burritt, R.L, Hahn, T. and S. Schaltegger (2002) Towards a Comprehensive Framework for Environmental Management Accounting – Links Between Business Actors and EMA Tools’, Australian Accounting Review, Vol.12, No. 2, July 2002, pp.39-50.

Burritt, R.L. (2004) ‘Environmental Management Accounting: roadblocks on the way to the green and pleasant land’ Business Strategy and the Environment, Vol.13, Issue 1, pp.13-32.