The Triple Bottom Line is Obsolete. The Quintuple Bottom Line Represents the Future

Getting to the Bottom of “ Triple Bottom Line ”

In this paper, we examine critically the notion of “Triple Bottom Line” accounting. We begin by asking just what it is that supporters of the Triple Bottom line idea advocate, and attempt to distil specific, assessable claims from the vague, diverse, and sometimes contradictory uses of the Triple Bottom Line rhetoric. We then use these claims as a basis upon which to argue (a) that what is soun...

The bottom line.

The bottom line

In the springtime, young men’s thoughts turn to love, but old men begin to contemplate retirement. I have lost count now, but this spring will be either the fourth or fifth time I will have retired and I am now looking forward to the next things I want to do. When I was in my fifties, twenty years ago, I was worried about retirement, having seen what happened to people I knew when they were tos...

The bottom line.

An annual investment of $92 billion for highways and bridges, between 2004 and 2009, is necessary to maintain the physical condition and performance characteristics of the system. An annual investment of $125.6 billion for highways and bridges is necessary to improve the physical condition and performance characteristics of the system over 20 years. An annual capital investment of $19 billion i...

Measuring Organizational Performance: Beyond the Triple Bottom Line

Measuring organizational performance is diffi cult, especially when what has to be measured keeps changing. Sustainability concepts have dramatically widened the scope of measurement options and leading organizations are grappling with sustainability reporting, but there is no sign of consensus on a common reporting standard and the competing frameworks are impossibly complex. This paper recogn...