| Dear Colleague, EMAN and Erasmus University Rotterdam are pleased to announce the 17th Environmental and Sustainability Management Accounting Network (EMAN) conference. The conference will be hosted by the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) and the Erasmus School of Accounting & Assurance (ESAA) in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, Date: March 27th and 28th, 2014 Venue: Erasmus School of Economics / Erasmus School of Accounting & Assurance Expo & Conference Centre (M-Building) Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Aims Much has been written about "why" companies are involved in sustainability issues. Numerous papers have been published about their motivations such as the business case and stakeholder management. However, relatively little research has addressed the "how" question. Amongst the "how" questions, the one dealing with how companies can and do integrate sustainability performance measurement, management control, reporting and communication is particularly underexplored. How are companies involved in sustainability management through accounting and reporting? How are appropriate data obtained and how are they used to influence management decision making, management control, performance management and incentive systems when assessing the success of company sustainability? Reporting companies mainly collect data for lagging indicators. Although these are of potential use they mainly provide information about past performance, and are not relevant for management decisions. To improve sustainability performances (environmental, social and economic), firms also need to consider leading indicators. Current trends such as 'Integrated Thinking and Integrated Reporting' stimulate this way of thinking while encouraging firm's managers to integrate sustainability issues within the firm's vision, strategy, risk management, conventional management accounting, control and reporting systems. Although these elements are often addressed separately, it is becoming increasingly urgent that for effective improvement of sustainability performance all must be addressed in an integrated and holistic manner. How do and can companies integrate these different management areas, departments and rationales in such ways that help the firms to become true leaders in the transition to post fossil carbon societies? To motivate research on this topic The Environmental and Sustainability Management Accounting Network (EMAN) conference to be held on 27th and 28th March, 2014 will focus on the theme "From sustainability reporting to sustainability management control." The conference addresses issues related to the integration of sustainability performance measurement, management control, reporting and communication. Special Volume The conference is associated with the planning and production of a Special Volume of the Journal of Cleaner Production. Through this Special Volume, we encourage the scientific community to engage in and report on relevant research at the 17th EMAN conference in March 2014 in Rotterdam. Full papers are invited to be considered for publication in the journal special issue. Conference fee The regular registration fee is €380,-. Early Bird registration fee is € 330,- (Early bird fee until February 3th, 2014). The conference fee includes conference diner and boat trip. For a preliminary conference program and more information on the conference, please visit www.eur.nl/ese/eman2014/ . If you have further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at eman-conference2014@ese.eur.nl. Please feel free to circulate this information to colleagues who could be interested. Best regards, Dr. Karen Maas |