The hermeneutic method recognises that humanity and nature are entwined in a great chain of being that cannot be separated except for analytic purposes. In this context, accounting can contribute to this `vision' by providing `information' which is not necessarily calculable data concerning corporate effects on the environment. The model challenges the modernist supposition that humanity has the technological means for unbridled pursuit of economic growth. Account-ability, as an organising principle, has as its purpose the construction of an open and transparent
society (Gray, 1992). In providing social and environmental data, such an information system acts as an enabling mechanism that legitimises decisions within the community in the most equitable and fair manner. Stated somewhat differently, social and environmental accounting and auditing can be developed as part of a public sphere committed to exposing and explaining corporate effects on nature as a reflection of what is `significant' for our community and our way of being in the world. The criterion of `significance' reflects our `hyper-goods', which in turn reflect our ontological background beliefs, one of which is nature.