Corporate's Social Responsibility Accounting Beetween Theory and Reality
Presented by: Srihadi W.Zarkasyi
Introduction
The growth in environmental accounting research and intersest in the last few years has been little short of phenomenal.For those of us with a long-standing interest in such issues, it is easy to get swept along in the euphoria of seeing environmental issues brought to centre stage in business and accounting debates. Little more than decade ago, any scholar wishing to review the literature concerned with accounting and the natural environment would have been faced with relatively straightforward task. Beyond the new significant and seminal papers (see, for example Dierkes and Preston 1977, Ullman, 1976) environmental issues tended only to surface as one of the themes within the Social Accounting and Reporting literature (Gray et all 1996, Mathews 1997 for summaries). The change in the last ten years has been little short of phenomenal. Consequently, it would be easy - especially for those of us who have been involved in the area for some years - to get swept along on a tide of enthusiasm now that environmental (and, latterly, social) accounting appears to be occupying an increasingly central place in accounting debate. For years accounting scholars have bemoaned the fact that Accounting (and Finance) teaching and research have largerly ignored environmental matters. Now this has changed and there are few aspect of accounting in which environmental concern is not explicitly recognized as important. Most research in corporate environmental management and environmental accounting indicate a substantial gap between the espoused environmental attitudes of business leaders and the actual practices of their companies. The primary purpose in writing this paper is to investigate problems and prospects concerning Corporate Social Responsibility, and discuss: (1) Business Interaction with Society, (2) Accountability and Transparency, (3) Environmental Issues and Financial Statements, (4) Financial Markets and Social or
Introduction
The growth in environmental accounting research and intersest in the last few years has been little short of phenomenal.For those of us with a long-standing interest in such issues, it is easy to get swept along in the euphoria of seeing environmental issues brought to centre stage in business and accounting debates. Little more than decade ago, any scholar wishing to review the literature concerned with accounting and the natural environment would have been faced with relatively straightforward task. Beyond the new significant and seminal papers (see, for example Dierkes and Preston 1977, Ullman, 1976) environmental issues tended only to surface as one of the themes within the Social Accounting and Reporting literature (Gray et all 1996, Mathews 1997 for summaries). The change in the last ten years has been little short of phenomenal. Consequently, it would be easy - especially for those of us who have been involved in the area for some years - to get swept along on a tide of enthusiasm now that environmental (and, latterly, social) accounting appears to be occupying an increasingly central place in accounting debate. For years accounting scholars have bemoaned the fact that Accounting (and Finance) teaching and research have largerly ignored environmental matters. Now this has changed and there are few aspect of accounting in which environmental concern is not explicitly recognized as important. Most research in corporate environmental management and environmental accounting indicate a substantial gap between the espoused environmental attitudes of business leaders and the actual practices of their companies. The primary purpose in writing this paper is to investigate problems and prospects concerning Corporate Social Responsibility, and discuss: (1) Business Interaction with Society, (2) Accountability and Transparency, (3) Environmental Issues and Financial Statements, (4) Financial Markets and Social or