Organizational and accounting change within the context of the environmental agenda

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore the process of organizational change undergone by a large Portuguese business group within the context of the environmental agenda and the role of accounting as a mechanism for change.Design methodology approach - The paper reports the results of a case study conducted between 2006 and 2009. Information was obtained from semi-structured interviews and secondary sources. Organizational changes were analyzed using Laughlin's model in order to identify which category reflected most of the changes introduced to address environmental matters.Findings - This paper offers evidence that change is not a homogeneous phenomenon. Additionally, it confirms previous studies' findings which found that accounting did not play a significant role in the process of organizational change within the context of the environmental agenda.Originality value - This paper seeks to complement the research in this area by integrating observations from a case study into an existing model of levels of organizational change according to how a Portuguese business group incorporated environmental issues into its processes, policies and corporate culture.