Editorial: Theme: Managing and accounting for sustainable development across generations

In our call for papers for this Public Money & Management theme, we presented a case for greater research into the governance of and accounting for inter-generational equity by governments and other public sector organizations (PSOs). There is compelling and ever-increasing evidence, for example, on the impacts of human activities on climate change and of social inequality on the health of the population. Our call built upon the arguments of Ball and Grubnic (Citation2007) and Ball et al. (Citation2014) on the distinct responsibilities of PSOs (as compared to the corporate sector), and acknowledged the assertions of Broadbent (Citation2013) and Gray et al. (Citation2014), among others, on the potential value of such research.
Positively, the contributions to the theme suggest an interest by academics and practitioners in conducting research on developing understanding of sustainable development in PSOs. The papers indicate willingness in PSOs to protecting future generations’ quality of life and, in a couple of papers, share innovative approaches to assessing the impact of unsustainability within given localities (see Eckersley et al. on p. 335; and Denedo et al. on p. 355). However, the papers also reveal challenges to moving forward with a sustainable development agenda, which we hope prompts further dialogue and research in the future.