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Special Issue-Call for Papers: Modern slavery and the accounting profession -
The British Accounting Review

Research · July 2021

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.36764.62084

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Muhammad Azizul Islam Katherine Christ

University of Aberdeen University of South Australia
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Special Issue: Modern slavery and the accounting

profession

Modern slavery issues are gaining greater prominence for contemporary organisations, largely because of
increasing public pressure, stakeholder expectations and legislation. Such issues in the field of accounting are
directly related to the need for research into the development of awareness, management, communication and
accountability processes which includes, but is not limited to, assurance and credibility of disclosures.
Concentrated research attention is needed if modern slavery is to be eliminated by 2030 as targeted through the
United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. While such need has already been acknowledged in
management and sociology research (see Stevenson and Cole, 2018; Patterson & Zhuo, 2018; Cooke, 2003; Crane,
2013. Bales & Soodalter, 2009) academics need to come forward to address some of the burning modern slavery
research issues facing the accounting discipline. The identification and emergence into public perception of
modern slavery as a key issue presents a challenge for the three pillars of the accounting profession:
practitioners in business and in firms providing accounting services, the professional bodies and academics.
The role of the accounting profession in modern slavery needs to be investigated from constructive as well as
critical perspectives.

Regulators, at both global and local levels, are now engaging with corporate disclosure to highlight the extent to
which modern slavery exists and to reveal the extent of corporate efforts to identify and fight it, especially in
global supply chains. Examples of disclosure-based regulation to emerge in recent years include the California
Transparency in Supply Chain Act, Dodd-Frank Act’s conflict minerals rule in the US, the UK Modern Slavery
Act, the Modern Slavery Act (NSW) and a proposed Australian Modern Slavery Act. As a result, contemporary
organisations face the challenge of developing solutions to deal with the complexity of integrating
organisational economic and social performance associated with the identification and avoidance of modern
slavery. The new wave of modern slavery legislation requires large firms to manage and disclose actions
undertaken to address modern slavery in their direct operations and supply chains (Islam & van Staden, 2018).
Small and medium sized entities as suppliers of goods and services may also find management of modern
slavery to be a consideration, or requirement, for establishing and continuing sales to downstream entities.
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Modern slavery could impact on the accounting profession in several ways including:
 • Management accountants in business need to build up their modern slavery management accounting practices,
including developing strategy, planning and control of investments and operations, benchmarking modern
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• Current and future professional practitioners need education and training about modern slavery requirements
and how organisations might move beyond regulation in order to secure a competitive advantage.

• Educational institutions need to up skill their staff and change their curricula to develop an appropriate
educational platform on modern slavery requirements and the international and local contexts which are likely
to guide future changes.

• Partners in accounting firms need to familiarise themselves with the needs of corporate clients who are directly
(e.g. companies above the threshold for reporting) and indirectly (e.g. companies below the threshold for
reporting but located in the supply chains of required reporters) affected by modern slavery legislation.

• Professional accounting bodies need to support their members, within the bounds of the public interest, with
professional development and lobbying activities on modern slavery.

• Assurance providers can engage in the strategic process of their corporate client’s modern slavery disclosure
production to affect transparency (Christ, Burritt & Rao, 2017), policy guideline advice to minimise risk from
non- transparency (Christ et al., 2017), and challenges to both internal and external auditing (Islam, 2018).

• Finally, given the structure of corporate governance, chief executive officers, accountants, and finance directors
have a role to influence corporate boards in resource allocation and investment. Such a role is crucial if socially
responsible investment is targeted, or if general investment is to be humane and ethical. The broader board
level decision making process for controlling modern slavery needs to be considered (Radeke & Coles, 2018).

While modern slavery-related disclosure and audit is the cornerstone of external corporate accountability and
transparency in the context of modern slavery regulation, research must be extended to consider all the
challenges accountants face in coping with the phenomenon, and how management, practitioners, professional
bodies and academics can help. 

It is expected that there will be significant change in the accounting profession by 2030 because of growing
concern over the full range of sustainability issues including modern slavery, and their association with new
approaches to the business cases driving management (Schaltegger & Burritt, 2018), external disclosure and
accountability regulation such as that embodied within various modern slavery Acts. Members of accounting
bodies are already beginning to engage in this transformation process (Islam, 2017). The implication is that
transdisciplinary teams (Christ & Burritt, 2018b; Islam, 2017) developing different, but relevant, indicators of
success will come together to integrate monetary and physical metrics necessary for assessing success for
individual organisations striving towards zero modern slavery in their businesses, and in the industries in

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 which they operate. In particular, when making resource allocation decisions at the corporate level it is
imperative that accountants and finance directors together with other board members involved consider the
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The emphasis of this Special Issue is to understand how the modern slavery management and institutional
landscape will shape the future of the accounting profession.

The call for this Special Issue covers, but is not limited to, the following topics:

• Accounting, its contribution to our understandings of economic performance, and the impetus to perpetuate
slavery.

• Modern slavery and conflicting interests - the moral and commercial implications for organisation of fair
wages, working conditions and exploitation in the developing and developed world.
• The role of the accounting profession in striving towards elimination of modern slavery in global supply chains

• Modern slavery and the profession’s role in management, responsibility and accountability

• Management accountants and control of modern slavery in organisations

• Modern slavery accounting benchmarking processes and standards

• Opportunities of the fourth industrial revolution for modern slavery accounting and/or auditing e,g. blockchain

• Practitioner engagement in production and communication of modern slavery statements and other related
disclosures

• Transdisciplinary challenges and accounting for modern slavery

• The potential contribution of accounting education and training to eliminating modern slavery

• The role of professional associations in accounting for modern slavery

• Modern slavery assurance and audit - internal and external audit of corporate management practices and
disclosures on modern slavery

• National and international institutional influences on accounting and modern slavery

• Etc…

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 Guidelines for authors

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• Submissions to the journal should be to the guest co-editors of the Special Issue (see below).
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• The authors need to submit their papers for the Special Issue of the British Accounting Review (using the
Elsevier Editorial System for the British Accounting Review using http://www.journals.elsevier.com/the-british-
accounting-review/).

• The submission deadline for receipt of papers for the special issue is 31 July, 2021.

• Note that all invited submissions to the British Accounting Review will be subject to double-blind refereeing.

• It is intended that the special issue will be published by July 2022.

• All accepted papers must have originality in their contributions and have attained the high research standard of
the British Accounting Review.

• The Joint-Editors of the British Accounting Review will exercise an oversight role prior to publication.

Guest Co-editors

Professor M. Azizul Islam, University of Aberdeen, UK (email: ✉ azizul.islam@abdn.ac.uk)

Dr. Katherine L. Christ, University of South Australia, Australia (email: ✉ katherine.christ@unisa.edu.au)

Professor Roger L, Burritt, Australian National University, Australia (email: ✉ roger.burritt@anu.edu.au)

Important dates

Submission deadline: 31st July, 2021.

Publication date: July 2022.

References

Bales K., Soodalter R. (2009). The slave next door: Human trafficking and slavery in America today. Berkeley:
University of California Press.

Burritt, R.L., Schaltegger, S. (2010). Sustainability accounting and reporting: fad or trend? Accounting, Auditing
& Accountability Journal, 23(7), 829-846.

Christ, K.L., Burritt, R.L. (2018a). Current perceptions on the problem of modern slavery in business. Business
Strategy and Development, 1, 103–114. Feedback
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Christ, K.L., Burritt, R.L. (2018b). The role for transdisciplinarity in water accounting by business: reflections
and opportunities. Australasian Journal of Environmental Management, 1-19.
(https://w SEARCH MENU
ww.elsevi
er.com) Christ, K.L., Burritt, R.L., Rao, K. (2017). Modern slavery and how accountants can fight it’, Acuity Magazine
(online), 21 August 2017, available on the internet at https://www.acuitymag.com/business/how-modern-slavery-impacts-
big-brands-and-accountants Accessed 02.08.18

Cooke B. (2003). The denial of slavery in management studies. Journal of Management Studies, 40, 1895–1918.

Crane A. (2013). Modern Slavery as a Management Practice: Exploring the Conditions and Capabilities for
Human Exploitation, Academy of Management Review. 38(1), 46-69.

Islam, M. A. (2017). Future of Accounting Profession: Three major changes and implication for Teaching and
Research, Global Knowledge Gateway, International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), available on the internet
at http://www.ifac.org/global-knowledge-gateway/business- reporting/discussion/future-accounting-profession-
three-majorAccessed 02.08.18

Islam, M.A. (2018). Tackling Modern Slavery: What Role Can Accountants Play?, Global Knowledge Gateway,
International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), available on the internet at http://www.ifac.org/global-
knowledge-gateway/audit-assurance/discussion/tackling-modern- slavery-what-role-can Accessed 02.08.18

Islam, M.A., van Staden, C.J. (2018). Social movement NGOs and the comprehensiveness of conflict mineral
disclosures: evidence from global companies. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 65, 1-19.

Patterson, O., Zhuo, X. (2018). Modern Trafficking, Slavery, and Other Forms of Servitude. Annual Review of
Sociology, 44, 407-439.

Radeke, J., Coles, T. (2018). Better corporate governance can end slavery in supply chains, Corporate
Knights, Spring Issue, http://www.corporateknights.com/channels/supply-chain/better-corporate-governance-
can-end-slavery-supply-chains-15210036/

Schaltegger, S., Burritt, R. (2018). Business cases and corporate engagement with sustainability: Differentiating
ethical motivations. Journal of Business Ethics, 147(2), 241-259.

Stevenson, M., Cole, R. (2018). Modern slavery in supply chains: a secondary data analysis of detection,
remediation and disclosure. Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, 12(3), 81-99.

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