Accounting for Sustainability

Abstract: Extant research, beyond the accounting domain, has investigated how to integrate sustainability in interorganizational relationships, whilst little has been said within the field of accounting. This concern is now addressed in a qualitative single case study of a collaboration agreement between a buyer and a supplier. This paper is the first to take the supplier's perspective and examines how a supplier can make their customers account for sustainability. The assumption has been that the customer has been seen as the constructor of value and thereby has been able to control their suppliers. By drawing upon the valuation perspective we contribute to previous literature in three ways. First, we understand that trust must be built to influence a customer's valuation practices. Trust was important to build since there was a large perceived technological risk with the supplier's product. The risk was mitigated through an internal ally in the customer organization serving as a "trust enabler". Second, we find that when trust was built the supplier was able to apply a new accounting tool on their customer to consider sustainability, namely a TVO calculation. The TVO calculation shifted the customer's focus from investment cost to total lifecycle value. Third, we contribute with insight into how a supplier who is dissatisfied with how a customer evaluates them can reconstruct how customers perceive value ultimately becoming the constructor of value.