We thought it was time to take a step back again from the way in which researchers, practitioners and standard-setting bodies have approached the question of the connection between the environment, social and intangible factors and financial accounting since the 1970's. This questioning is obviously not new, as can be seen from the extensive work carried out by Price Waterhouse USA in the 90s (1991, 1992, 1993, 1994) and the many chapters devoted to the subject in books published by researchers Rob Gray (2001) and Stefan Schaltegger (1996, 2000), but also the Ordre des Experts Comptables (1996). We are therefore provided a new update, in July 2020, based on a study that lasted 5 months, carried out by the Audencia research chair team.
Thus, our research work consisted in forming a structured panorama of a large number of initiatives. The aim is not necessarily to be exhaustive, as this is a difficult task. However, we have structured a vision of the connections in order to enlighten all those who, in practice, in writing standards or in research, would like to tackle the question of the "accounting" of this "non-financial".