Purpose: This study aims to explore the state of environmental management accounting practice and the motivations for its use with a view to improving waste and recycling management by local government. The focus is on practice in local governments situated in the state of New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Prior studies suggest the need for environmental management accounting as a supporting tool for waste management.Design/methodology/approach: An exploratory case study method was applied in 12 NSW local government organisations. In each local government interviews were conducted with managers responsible for waste and recycling issues.Findings: Contrary to prior research this study found that, in the local governments investigated, an increasing amount of environmental management accounting information is being made available. The case studies found two main motivations encouraging the development of environmental management accounting in local government: first, social structural influences, such as regulatory pressures from different environmental regulatory bodies, environmental expectations from local communities, and pressures from peer councils; second, organisational contextual influences reflecting situational needs in the organisational contexts, such as complex waste operations and service designs, changes and uncertainties in waste and recycling management, and the council's strategic position for waste management.Research limitations/implications: The results imply that institutional theory and contingency theory provide different but complementary explanations for the development of environmental management accounting in waste management. Although previous environmental studies are overwhelmingly in favour of social system‐based theories, such as institutional theory, to explain environmental changes in organisations, an organisation's contextual dynamics seem to be equally important.Originality/value: The findings about motivations provide useful information for environmental strategists and government regulators to make policies that improve accountability and the efficiency of waste and recycling management as well as promote future development of environmental management accounting to support sustainable waste management solutions.

Purpose: This paper aims to investigate the key company characteristics which influence sustainability reporting by publicly listed companies in Sri Lanka.Design/methodology/approach: Panel data analysis is conducted to analyse sustainability reporting of 84 publicly listed companies from 2012 to 2015.Findings: Company size and usage of the GRI guidelines are found to be the most relevant company characteristics associated with sustainability reporting by listed companies in Sri Lanka. Unexpectedly, ownership and industry sector do not show strong influences on the extent of sustainability reporting over the study period compared with prior studies.Research limitations/implications: Large companies which follow the GRI guidelines are more likely to report in an elaborate manner, indicating the influence of standards setting bodies in Sri Lanka. This means Sri Lankan companies pay attention to global business practices, given the current re-development phase Sri Lanka is experiencing after the end of the civil war.Originality: This study is one of the few studies that examine sustainability reporting in a country set against a backdrop of war in the South Asian region. Besides this, it extends the previous research on sustainability reporting and variables such as company ownership, GRI usage, company size and industry sector in a developing country context.