Robert Gray (accountancy academic)

Robert Hugh Gray BSc(Econ), MA(Econ), FCCA, FCA, PhD, MBE is Professor of Social and Environmental Accounting at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. Until recently he was also the Director of the Centre for Social and Environmental Accounting Research (CSEAR).

In the 2009 Birthday Honours list Gray was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) . Unlike prominent dissidents and critical intellectuals who have refused honours from the Queen in the past such as Benjamin Zephanaiah and Stephen Hawking, Gray accepted the award.

Honours and awards

• 1982: Will Baxter Manuscript Prize (with A.J.B. Hope) for "Power and Policy Making: The Development of an R&D Standard" Journal of Business Finance & Accounting Vol.9 No.4 Winter 1982 (pp. 531–558)

• 1992: Larry Sawyer Manuscript Award (with D.J. Collison)"The Environmental Audit: Green-gauge or Whitewash?" Managerial Auditing 6(5) 1991 (pp. 17–25)

• 1994: Nominated for United Nations Global 500 Laureate – not awarded.

• 1994: Award for Environmental Excellence from Dundee City Council for work with CSEAR

• 1994: British Accounting Association Special Interest Group Manuscript Award for "Teaching Ethics and the Ethics of Accounting Teaching: Educating for immorality and a case for social and environmental accounting education"" (with K.J. Bebbington & K. McPhail) Accounting Education: An International Journal 3(1) Spring 1994 (pp. 51–75)

• 1995: Shortlisted for British Accounting Association/Chartered Association of Certified Accountants inaugural Outstanding Educators Award

• 1995: Mary Parker Follett Manuscript Award – "Highly Commended" for "Corporate Social and Environmental Reporting: A Review of the Literature and a longitudinal study of UK Disclosure" (with R. Kouhy and S. Lavers) Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal 8(2) 1995 (pp. 47–77)

• 1996: The Research Assessment Exercise of 19996 gave the research work of CSEAR a "flagged" status.

• 1997: University of Dundee Honorary Graduates Award for Innovative Teaching (jointly awarded with K.J. Bebbington) for the development of teaching methods, textbook and seminar exercises for introductory financial accounting.

• 1997: Mary Parker Follett Manuscript Award – "Highly Commended" for "Struggling with the praxis of social accounting: Stakeholders, accountability, audits and procedures" (with C. Dey, D. Owen, R. Evans and S. Zadek) Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal 10(3) 1997 (pp. 325–364)

• 1998: Mary Parker Follett Manuscript Award – "Highly Commended" for "Accounting and Management Research: Passwords from the gatekeepers" (with L. Parker and J. Guthrie) Accounting Auditing and Accountability Journal 11(4) 1998 (pp. 371–402)

• 1999: Anbar Citation of Excellence for "Accounting and Management Research: Passwords from the gatekeepers" (with L. Parker and J. Guthrie) Accounting Auditing and Accountability Journal

• 1999: Anbar Citation of Excellence for "Imagination, A Bowl of Petunias and Social Accounting" Critical Perspectives on Accounting 9(2) April 1998 (pp. 205–216)

• 1999: Anbar Citation of Excellence for "Seeing the wood for the trees: Taking the pulse of social and environmental accounting" (with K.J. Bebbington and D.L. Owen) Accounting Auditing and Accountability Journal 12(1) 1999 (pp. 47–51)

• 2000: Identified in P. Dobers, L. Strannegard & R. Wolff (2000) Business Strategy and the Environment 9(1) (pp. 49–61) as the most cited accounting author and the 7th most cited author in a review of environmentally-related research in management.

• 2001: Elected British Accounting Association Distinguished Academic Fellow

• 2004: Elected to be one of 14 founding members of the British Accounting Association Hall of Fame.

Peer-reviewed journal articles

Please visit the University publications page for a complete and up to date list of publications.^[1]

• "The Conceptual Framework: A Review Article" (with A.J.B. Hope) British Accounting Review Vol.14 No.2 Autumn 1982 (pp. 65–71)
• "Power and Policy Making: The Development of an R&D Standard" (with A.J.B. Hope) Journal of Business Finance & Accounting Vol.9 No.4 Winter 1982 (pp. 531–558). Awarded the 1982 Will Baxter Accounting Prize.
• "Accountability, Financial Reporting and the Not-for-Profit Sector" British Accounting Review Vol.15 No.1 Spring 1983 (pp. 3–23)
• "Financial Reporting 1982/83: A Review Article" (with J. Blake & A.J.B. Hope) British Accounting Review Vol.15 No.2 Autumn 1983 (pp. 61–67)
• "Academic Departments of Accounting in the UK: A Note on Publication Output" (with J. Haslam & B. Prodhan) British Accounting Review Vol.19 No.1 Spring 1987 (pp. 53–73) ISSN 0890-8389
• "Researching the information content of social responsibility disclosure: A comment" (with D.L. Owen & K.T. Maunders) British Accounting Review Vol.19 No.2 Summer 1987 (pp. 169–176) ISSN 0890-8389
• "Corporate Social Reporting: Emerging trends in accountability and the social contract" (with D.L. Owen & K.T. Maunders) Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal Vol.1 No.1 1989 (pp. 6–20) ISSN 0951-3574
• "Consistency and Stability of UK Academic Publication Output Criteria in Accounting" (with K.P. Gee) British Accounting Review Vol.21 No.1 1989 (pp. 43–54) ISSN 0890-8389 (Reprinted in Performance Indicators and Quality Control in Higher Education M. McVicar (ed) (Portsmouth: Portsmouth Polytechnic) 1989
• "The Local Authority Annual Report in the UK: An exploratory study of accounting communication and democracy" (with P. Butterworth & J. Haslam) Financial Accountability and Management Vol.5 No.2 Spring 1989 (pp. 73–87)
• "Accounting and Democracy: A review essay" Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal Vol.2 No.3 1989 (pp. 52–56) ISSN 0951-3574
• "External Reporting by UK Universities: an exploratory study of accounting change" (with J. Haslam) Financial Accountability and Management Vol.6 No.1 Spring 1990 (pp. 51–72)
• "Business Ethics and Organisational Change: Building a Trojan Horse or rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic?" Managerial Auditing Vol.5 No.2 Spring 1990 (pp. 12–21)
• "Accounting and Economics: The Psychopathic Siblings" British Accounting Review Vol.22 No.4 December 1990 (pp. 373–388) ISSN 0890-8389
• "Managerial Social Accounting in Developing Countries: Towards the operationalisation of social reporting" (with K.T. Maunders & D.L. Owen) Research in Third World Accounting Vol.1 1991 (pp. 87–101).
• "Financial Accounting and Reporting in the Lebanon: an exploratory study of accounting in hyperinflationary conditions" (with N. Baydoun) Research in Third World Accounting Vol.1 1991 (pp. 227–262)
• "The Environmental Audit: Green-gauge or Whitewash?" (with D.J. Collison) Managerial Auditing 6(5) 1991 (pp. 17–25) Awarded the 1992 Larry Sawyer Manuscript Award. (reprinted in A. Chambers (ed) Internal Auditing (Aldershot: Dartmount Publishing) 1997 pp. 601–610). Green Accounting: Special Issue of Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal (Jt. Ed with R.C.Laughlin) (Bradford: MCB Press) 4(3) 1991 pp. 124
• "The Coming of the Green and the Challenge of Environmentalism" (with R.C. Laughlin) Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal 4(3) 1991 (pp. 5–8) ISSN 0951-3574
• "Accountability, Corporate Social Reporting and the External Social Audits" (with D.L. Owen & K.T. Maunders) Advances in Public Interest Accounting Vol.4 1991 (pp. 1–21)
• "The Physical Environment, Accounting and Local Development" (with S. Morrison) Local Economy 6(4) February 1992 (pp. 336–350)
• "Accounting and Environmentalism: An exploration of the challenge of gently accounting for accountability, transparency and sustainability" Accounting Organisations and Society Vol.17 No.5 1992 (pp. 399–425) (Reprinted in Green Management: A Reader (eds) P. McDonagh and A. Prothero (London: The Dryden Press) 1997 pp. 249–280) (An earlier version was published in Proceedings of the Third Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Accounting Conference Vol.2 (Manchester: University of Manchester) 1991 (pp. 6.1–2.6.18)
• "Accounting for the Environment and Sustainability in Lesser Developed Countries: An exploratory note" (with R. Kouhy) Research in Third World Accounting Vol.2 1993 (pp. 387–399)
• "On Collegiality and Academic Conversations: A valedictory editorial" British Accounting Review 25(2) June 1993 (pp. 105–107) ISSN 0890-8389
• "Social and Environmental Accounting in the Western Capitalist Economies" Prace z Zakresu Rachunkowosci (Accounting Practice and Theory) No.401 1993 (pp. 145–172).
• "Accounting, Environment and Sustainability" (with K.J. Bebbington) Business Strategy and the Environment Summer 1993, Part 2 (pp. 1–11).
• "Corporate Reporting for Sustainable Development" Environmental Values 3(1) Spring 1994 (pp. 17–45) (Reprinted in Welford R. & R. Starkey (eds) Business and the Environment (London: Earthscan) 1996 pp. 173–196)
• "Accountants' Attitudes and Environmentally Sensitive Accounting" (with K.J. Bebbington, I. Thomson & D. Walters) Accounting & Business Research No.94 Spring 1994 (pp. 109–120) ISSN 0001-478
• "Teaching Ethics and the Ethics of Accounting Teaching: Educating for immorality and a case for social and environmental accounting education"" (with K.J. Bebbington & K. McPhail) Accounting Education: An International Journal 3(1) Spring 1994 (pp. 51–75) Awarded the British Accounting Association Education Special Interest Group Manuscript Prize for 1994
• "The Accounting Profession and the Environmental Crisis: (or can accountancy save the world?) Meditari 1994 (pp. 1–51)
• "Social and environmental accounting, accountability and reporting: New wine in old skins or silk purses from sows' ears?" Accounting Forum March 1994 (pp. 4–30) ISSN 0155-9982
• "UK Accounting Academics and Publication: An exploratory study of gender, age, qualification and experience" (with C.V. Helliar) British Accounting Review 26(3) September 1994 (pp. 235–254) ISSN 0890-8389
• "Environmental Accounting and Auditing in Europe: Shooting the breeze and missing the point?" (with D. Stone) European Accounting Review 3(3) 1994 (pp. 581–590) ISSN 0963-8180
• "Perspectives: The Challenge of Going Green" Harvard Business Review July–August 1994 (pp. 46–47) (Reprinted in Welford R. & R. Starkey (eds) Business and the Environment (London: Earthscan) 1996 pp. 56–57)
• "The greening of enterprise: An exploration of the (non) role environmental accounting and environmental accountants in organisational change" (with K.J. Bebbington, D. Walters, I. Thomson) Critical Perspectives on Accounting 6(3) June 1995 (pp. 211–239) ISSN 1045-2354
• "Corporate Social and Environmental Reporting: A Review of the Literature and a longitudinal study of UK Disclosure" (with R. Kouhy and S. Lavers) Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal 8(2) 1995 (pp. 47–77) ISSN 0951-3574 Highly commended in the Mary Parker Follett Award for 1995
• "Methodological Themes: Constructing a Research Database of Social and Environmental Reporting by UK Companies: A methodological note" (with R. Kouhy and S. Lavers) Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal 8(2) 1995 (pp. 78–101) ISSN 0951-3574
• "Accounting and the what....? Can the grey men go green?" Human Ecology Review Winter/Spring 1995 (pp. 24–29)
• "Towards Social Information Systems and Bookkeeping: A note on developing the mechanisms for social accounting and audit" (with C. Dey and R. Evans) Journal of Applied Accounting Research 2(3) December 1995 (pp. 36–69) ISSN 0967 5426
• "On being social whilst being accountants" Accounting Forum 19(2/3) Sept/Dec 1995 (pp. 253–258) ISSN 0155-9982
• "The interesting relationship between accounting research and accounting practice: A personal reply to Professor Whittington" Journal of Applied Accounting Research 3(1) March 1996 (pp. 5–34). ISSN 0967 5426
• "Auditors' Responses to Emerging Issues: A UK perspective on the statutory financial auditor and the environment" (with D.J. Collison) International Journal of Auditing 1(2) 1997 (pp. 135–149) ISSN 1090 6738
• "Struggling with the praxis of social accounting: Stakeholders, accountability, audits and procedures" (with C. Dey, D. Owen, R. Evans and S. Zadek) Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal 10(3) 1997 (pp. 325–364) ISSN 0951-3574 Highly commended in the Mary Parker Follett Award for 1997 (Reprinted in Starkey R. & R. Welford (eds) Business and Sustainable Development (London: Earthscan) 2001 pp. 158–184)
• "International Comparisons of Social Disclosure: A Research Note" (with M. Javad) Asian Review of Accounting 5(1) 1997 (pp. 147–155) ISBN 1-86342-562-4
• "Green Accounting: Cosmetic irrelevance or radical agenda for change?" (with D.L. Owen and K.J. Bebbington) Asia-Pacific Journal of Accounting 4(2) December 1997 (pp. 175–198) ISBN 962-442-104-B
• "Imagination, A Bowl of Petunias and Social Accounting" Critical Perspectives on Accounting 9(2) April 1998 (pp. 205–216) ISSN 1045-2354 1999 Anbar Citation of Excellence
• "Accounting and management research: passwords from the gatekeepers" (with L. Parker and J. Guthrie) Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal 11(4) 1998 (pp. 371–402) ISSN 0951-3574 1999 Anbar Citation of Excellence Highly commended in the Mary Parker Follett Award for 1998
• "Life's a killer (A reflection upon qualifying as a chartered accountant)"; "Certainty (poems) Critical Perspectives on Accounting 9(2) April 1998 (p. 174); 9(3) June 1998 (p. 354); ISSN 1045-2354
• "Corporate social reporting in the Republic of Ireland: A longitudinal study" (with B. O'Dwyer) Irish Accounting Review 5(2) 1998 (pp. 1–34)
• "Seeing the wood for the trees: Taking the pulse of social and environmental accounting" (with K.J. Bebbington and D.L. Owen) Accounting Auditing and Accountability Journal 12(1) 1999 (pp. 47–51) ISSN 0951-3574 1999 Anbar Citation of Excellence
• "External transparency or internal capture? The role of third party statements in adding value to corporate environmental reports" (with A. Ball and D.L. Owen) Business Strategy and the Environment 9(1) Jan/Feb 2000 (pp. 1–23) ISSN 0964 4733
• "Social and Environmental Accounting and Student Choice: An exploratory research note" (with D.J. Collison, D.L. Owen, C.D. Sinclair and L. Stevenson) Accounting Forum 24(2) June 2000 (pp. 170–186) ISSN 0155-9982
• "Environmental and social accounting in Europe" (with J. Bebbington and C. Larrinaga) European Accounting Review 9(1) 2000 (pp. 3–6) ISSN 0963-8180
• "Experimenting with assessing corporate social responsibility in France: An exploratory note on an initiative by social economy firms" (with M. Capron) European Accounting Review 9(1) 2000 (pp. 99–109) ISSN 0963-8180
• "Current developments and trends in social and environmental auditing, reporting and attestation: A review and comment" International Journal of Auditing 4(3) November 2000 (pp. 247–268) ISSN 1090 6738
• "Environmental accounting, managerialism and sustainability: Is the planet safe in the hands of business and accounting?" (with K.J. Bebbington) Advances in Environmental Accounting and Management Vol.1 2000 (pp. 1–44) ISBN 0-7623-0334-4
• "30 Years of corporate social accounting, reporting and auditing: What (if anything) have we learnt?" Business Ethics: A European Review 10(1) January 2001 (pp. 9–15) ISSN 0962 8770
• "Social and Environmental Disclosure and Corporate Characteristics: A Research Note and Extension" (with M. Javad, D. Power and D. Sinclair) Journal of Business Finance & Accounting 28(3/4) April/May 2001 (pp. 327–356) ISSN 0306 686X
• "An Account of Sustainability: Failure, Success and a Reconceptualisation" (with K.J. Bebbington) Critical Perspectives on Accounting 12(5) October 2001 (pp. 557–587) ISSN 1045-2354
• “Rites of passage and the self-immolation of accounting labour: an essay exploring exclusivity versus mutuality in accounting scholarship” (with J. Guthrie and L.D. Parker ) Accounting Forum 26(1) March 2002 (pp. 1–30) ISSN 0155-9982
• "The Social Accounting Project and Accounting Organizations and Society: Privileging Engagement, Imaginings, New Accountings and Pragmatism over Critique?" Accounting Organizations and Society 27(7) October 2002 (pp. 687–707) ISSN 0361 3682
• “The financial performance of European ethical funds 1996–1998” (with N. Kreander, D.M. Power and C.D. Sinclair) Journal of Accounting and Finance Vol.1 2002 (pp. 3–22)
• “Can’t See The Wood For The Trees, Can’t See The Trees For The Numbers? Accounting Education, Sustainability And The Public Interest” (with D.J. Collison) Critical Perspectives on Accounting 13 (5/6) 2002 (pp. 797–836) ISSN 1045-2354
• “Of messiness, systems and sustainability: Towards a more social and environmental finance and British Accounting Review 34(4) December 2002 (pp. 357–386) ISSN 0890-8389
• “Commodification of academic accounting labour: An illustration from a professional examination Accounting Auditing and Accountability Journal 16(1) 2003 (pp. 141–144) ISSN 0951-3574
• "Preparing a Research Proposal for a Student Research Dissertation: a pedagogic note" (with C. Emmanuel) Accounting Education: An International Journal 12(3) 2003 (pp. 303–312) ISSN 0963-9284
• "Beyond a critique of pure reason: From policy to politics to praxis in environmental and social research" (with T. Tinker) Accounting Auditing and Accountability Journal 16(5) 2003 (pp. 727–761) ISSN 0951-3574
• “Accounting and Theology, an introduction: initiating a dialogue between immediacy and eternity” – Guest Editorial (with K. McPhail and T. Gorringe) Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal 17(3) 2004 (pp. 320–326) ISSN 0951-3574
• “Evaluating the performance of ethical and non-ethical funds: A matched pair analysis” (with N. Kreander, D.M. Power and C.D. Sinclair) Journal of Business Finance and Accounting (forthcoming)

Footnotes

References

• Robert Gray's St. Andrews homepage