SUSTAINABILITY IS APPLIED ETHICS.

This paper posits that sustainable management and accounting are in fact applied ethics. Some companies currently reporting on sustainability entitle their report as a "Good Citizenship Report." Good citizenship, safeguarding the environment, giving back to the community, promoting workforce health and safety, and 'doing the right thing' are all examples of ethical behavior. Sustainability reporting focuses on corporate accountability or stewardship. Accounting as a profession has often been characterized as the watchdog of business, ensuring reporting that is fairly presented, reflecting economic reality. Accountants and auditors are bound by their professional code of ethical conduct to protect the public interest. Accountants and auditors are ethical detectives holding businesses to ethical standards of honesty, neutrality, completeness and representational faithfulness. So grounded, accounting is the provider of one of the essential checks and balances on commerce. This paper explores a holistic definition of sustainability as viewed through the lens of contemporary ethical theory, stakeholder theory, and accountability theory. The role of accounting and auditing as related to sustainability measurement and reporting is also examined. Accounting is often considered as applied ethics. Accountants and auditors are the gatekeepers of business ethics. Contemporary ethical models are applied to the accounting profession and to sustainability. This paper posits that sustainability is applied ethics. This paper contributes to the definition of sustainability, and to the literature relative to the integration of sustainable imperatives within the business entity and how to account for sustainable performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]