Critical reflections of accounting and social impact (Part I)

This special issue on Accounting and Social Impact consists of two parts that will be hosted in separate issues of the journal. Here in part I we introduce the concepts and themes of social impact, before analysing how the exposure of researchers to impact assessment regimes introduces pressures on researchers to seek specific kinds of impact. We go on to discuss the various contributions included in this issue that cover themes of accountability, sustainability, control and gender in a diverse range of organisational forms that sit in the spheres of the public, private and third sectors. The second part, in a later issue, will examine how accountability, power and control issues create impacts in non-governmental and other not-for-profit organisations.