Poverty Accounting and Measurement: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

The paper is intended to be a systematic literature review (SLR) of the developing area of poverty accounting and measurement. It finds out how the old and the new methods think about and measure poverty, determines where ethical, philosophical, and accounting concepts fit in, and charts what all this means in terms of policy, institutional responsibility, and further inquiry. The paper is a synthesis of 118 scholarly and organizational publications released in 2020-2025. It recognizes the replacement of unidimensional income-dependent poverty measures with multidimensional concepts that take account of health, education, well-being and social inclusion. The results indicate an increased focus on moral reasoning, participatory paradigms, data justice, and the obligation of accountability in measures of poverty. It also reveals theoretical shortcomings in how reflexivity, normative ethics and institutional reporting can be incorporated into measurement frameworks. Thematic synthesis grouped results in twelve main areas, such as multidimensional poverty indices (MPIs), data shortcomings, governance systems, and useful implementations in open and corporate reporting.The review offers substantive recommendations to policymakers, development practitioners, educators, and institutions through proposing the hybrid ethically based metrics that would combine the objectivity with contextual validity and participatory validity. It places the arrival of poverty accounting in national budgets, ESG reporting and social impact assessment. In addition, the review facilitates moral and ethical literacy in the education programs to shape the future practitioners. The paper fits in the literature because it provides the interdisciplinary framework able to integrate accounting principles and ethical and philosophical aspects of measuring poverty. It is among the few SLRs that have included various SLRs- development economics; moral education; institutional reporting; and artificial intelligence in conceptualizing the operational and ethical aspects of poverty.