1.5 Significance of The Study
This study is significant to the researcher, the institution, the government as well as the society as a whole. To the researcher, this study will increase his knowledge on financial accounting and how it affects the corporate sustainability of businesses in Buea. To the institution, this study will help the institution know how to go about creating, operating and managing a good and efficient financial accounting system. To the policy makers, it will help generate data and information that could be used to come up with strategies plans and designs that will help strategically position them in the highly competitive, diverse and complex business environment that is experienced at present. Lastly, to future researchers it will assist them in carrying out their study on the effect of financial accounting on corporate sustainability of businesses in Buea.

1.6 Scope and Limitation of the Study
The scope of the study will be limited to the effect of financial accounting on corporate sustainability of businesses in Buea, (Fako division) South West Region. The study will be conducted for a period of 3 months (May-July) and the researcher chose this area because of the availability of businesses located here to provide their products and services to the population, it was not an easy task to gather articles relating to this topic and to obtain primary data due to the restrictions placed on some of the respondents by their superiors not to disclose information relating to accountancy and related business endeavors. A lot of time and patience was devoted to carefully gather data which was used to carry out this research. It posed problems because the research was carried out alongside
personal class studies. Nevertheless, the efforts were to be put in to achieve a credible research project. Finances were a big limitation to this study. The researcher needed money to constantly finance the supply of internet on research Medias (Phones, Laptop). The researcher had to print copies of the research work for submission and corrections.
1.7 Definition of key terms
SASB: (Sustainability Accounting Standard Board) founded in July 2011 by Jean Rogers to develop and disseminate sustainability accounting standards.
Financial Reporting: it is the disclosure of financial accounting results and related information to management and external stakeholders (E.g. Investors, (Customers and Regulators) about how a company is performing over a specific time period.
Adequate Disclosure: This refers to the ability for financial statements footnotes and supplemental schedules to provide a comprehensive and clear description of a company’s financial position.

Financial Accounting
The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants has defined Financial Accounting as “The act of recording, classifying and summarizing in a significant manner and in terms
of money, transactions and events which are in part at least of financial character, and interpreting the results thereof”. Accounting is the language effectively employed to communicate the financial information of a business unit to various parties interested in its progress such as proprietors, creditors, investors, employees, consumers, public and the government. Financial Accounting
concerns that part of accounting which is meant to serve all parties externally to the operating responsibilities of the firm (Regulatory bodies, investors and general public) alongside serving its main purpose of providing essential information needed for sound economic decision making. Financial accounting is performed according to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) guidelines. Thus, for financial accounting to successfully achieve its objectives on its own part, the 4 pillar functions of financial
accounting must be addressed.

Recording: Since all business transactions cannot be kept in memory, they have got to be systematically recorded and pass through journals, ledgers and work sheets before they could take forms of final accounts. This aspect of financial accounting has assumed considerable importance with the limitation of human memory.
Validating: With the universal acceptance and enforcement of accounting principles, every recorded entry in the books of accounts maintained by a business unit gives validity or authenticity to all such transactions so recorded.
Communicating: This is an important function of financial accounting. Accounting serves as a language for communicating the financial facts about the enterprise or activity most
effectively to all concerned interested in using and interpreting them.
Interpreting: This aspect helps in unfolding the total financial picture of an undertaking. Deals also with quantitative analyses of year end results of operations and presenting results used both for internal decision making by management and external judgements by potential investors and creditors of the business. As professor Theodore Levitt of Harvard Business School remarked recently, “Data do not yield information except with the intervention of imagination”. The intervention of both mind and imagination are needed to make data meaningful.
2.1.2 Corporate Sustainability

Corporate sustainability (otherwise referred to as business sustainability) is the management and coordination of financial (economic), social (people) and environment (planet) risk, obligation and opportunity of business so as to ensure responsible, ethical and perpetual business success. Corporate sustainability evolved as a derivation of the concept of sustainable development, which was first introduced by the United Nation’s World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) (1987) (Visser, 2007). According to WCED, sustainability development was defined as development that meets the needs of present generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. Or as described in the book, it is “a process of change in which the
exploitation of resources, the direction of investments, the orientation of technological development, and institutional change are all in harmony and enhance both current and future potential to meet human needs and aspirations.” Therefore, business sustainability requires firms to adhere to the principles of sustainability development. Thus, for industrial development to be sustainable, three pillars (measures) of business sustainability must be addressed. Economic, Social and Environmental focuses of a business, otherwise called triple bottom line in corporate world are referred to as three
pillar of sustainability. John Elkington of the UK Consultancy, SustainAbility, showcases these in the concept of “triple bottom line” which was introduced in 1997. The concept focuses not just corporate economic value added but also environmental and social values added or destroyed. This effort of Elkington extended financial and environmental dimensions of corporate performance to social impact issues that are rarely captured in the traditional financial bottom line (Visser, 2007). These three pillars are capable of positioning business for better future success. Thus, for corporate entities to ensure sustainability going-concern with global business competitiveness, proper and prompt attention must be accorded to these pillars (Muyiwa. E. Alade & T. Nasieku, 2016)
Each of these pillars is hereby discussed as follow.