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This paper describes the development of and gaps in knowledge in research on carbon accounting based on a systematic review of 117 papers published in influential accounting journals between 2005 and 2018. The review shows the literature has developed into four major streams of carbon accounting: carbon disclosure, management, performance and assurance, and that carbon accounting is emerging as a distinct discipline. Finally, our paper highlights future research opportunities to improve carbon accounting, so it can play an even more important role to help business achieve the climate goals of the Paris Agreement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on an international sample, this study examines the association between corporate carbon assurance and carbon disclosure. We find that companies that adopt carbon assurance tend to have better carbon disclosure quality than their unassured peers. Cross‐sectional analyses demonstrate that the positive relationship is stronger in stakeholder‐oriented countries. We also document that carbon assurance plays a substitutive role for country‐level carbon regulation and social trust. Further analyses suggest that carbon assurance has differential impacts on specific types of carbon disclosure and the quality of carbon disclosure increases with the percentage of reported emissions assured and the level of carbon assurance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]