Abstract:
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the potential role of accountants and their
contribution towards a successfulimplementation ofenvironmental reportingpractice i.e. a reporting
practice that add to the greater good of the country's sustainable development. The paper employs
a mixed method approach through questionnaire surveys and personal interviews of corporate
accountants in selected publicly listed companies in Malaysia. The main findings showed that
there are two distinct roles ofaccountants in Malaysia pertaining to environmental accounting and
reporting. Many ofthe accountants signal reactive role towards business-environmental accounting
and reporting practices. The paper also found that accountants in Malaysia failed to recognise
themselves as agents of sustainable development in their organizations. Accountants' role towards
successful implementation of environmental reporting in Malaysia is still limited and unclear.
This study contributes to the accounting research literature on two dimensions. First, it explores
and gathers understanding about current attitudes ofaccountants from organizational perspective.
Second, offers ideas and directions for greater involvement amongst the Malaysian accountants in
environmental accounting and reporting, hence undertake the role as agents to intemalise corporate
sustainable practices.
