Accounting for circular business models: a systematic literature review

The increasing relevance of non-financial stakeholders’ expectations requires firms to revise their business models according to sustainability and global responsibility principles. This change involves the availability of new accounting techniques based on multidimensional metrics, enabling the assessment of the firm's impact on the social and environmental dimensions. The aim of this chapter is twofold: to summarize, unify and critically assess the literature on circular accounting models and to appraise their contribution to the implementation of circular business models. To achieve the above-stated goals, a systematic review of the existing literature has been performed, focusing on articles published from 1991 to 2023. The main research results underline that circular accounting techniques can facilitate the transition from linear business models to circular business models, but efforts must still be made.