Abstract
Traditional accounting has lost its instrumental ability of entailing the informational dimensions that are requested in the process of comprehending the phenomenon of identifying and reporting entity's activity in the context of sustainable development. The requirements for new information relate to economic, environmental and social sustainability of an entity. The purpose of this chapter is to outline the status of development in social and environmental accounting literature and to establish the main trends adopted by the most important accounting journals. It is based on the idea that besides the principles exposed in traditional accounting, the set of principles that underpin the role of the society and of the environment in a sustainable development context will develop a holistic vision of the economic entity. The authors view is consistent with the social and environmental accounting research that has emerged as a significant part of the contemporary accounting research literature.