Social Accounting
Assignment – Social Accounting
What is Social Accounting?
“Social accounting and auditing is about understanding the impact of organisations on our society and the overarching context is sustainability: both sustainability of the organisation itself (the interrelation of the social, the environmental, the cultural and the financial) and sustainability of behaviour which contributes to a future for the people and the planet. Social accounting is distinct from evaluation in that it is an internally generated process whereby the organisation itself shapes the social accounting process according to its stated objectives. In particular it aims to involve all stakeholders in the process. It measures social and environmental performance in order to achieve improvement as well as to report accurately on what has been done.
Purpose:
Each sector and each particular organisation will have its own reasons for looking to account for their social performance. Some reasons reported by organisations include the following; acting sustainably, ‘walking their talk’, improving social and environmental performance, being more accountable, attracting additional funds, becoming more economically viable, being a leader in the field, attracting a wider market, a public relations tool, meeting objectives, working within a framework and improving reporting ability. An additional factor that applies to the ‘for profit’ sector is that of mandatory social reporting. In some countries social reporting is a legal requirement. For instance, in France companies with over 300 employees are required to produce a social report. In the UK a regulation on Pension Funds “requires trustees to state the extent to which they have taken environmental and ethical considerations into account in fund management” (New Economics Foundation 2000). There are initial signs in Australia that mandatory requirements may also drive greater social accounting and reporting here. The Financial Services Reform Act
What is Social Accounting?
“Social accounting and auditing is about understanding the impact of organisations on our society and the overarching context is sustainability: both sustainability of the organisation itself (the interrelation of the social, the environmental, the cultural and the financial) and sustainability of behaviour which contributes to a future for the people and the planet. Social accounting is distinct from evaluation in that it is an internally generated process whereby the organisation itself shapes the social accounting process according to its stated objectives. In particular it aims to involve all stakeholders in the process. It measures social and environmental performance in order to achieve improvement as well as to report accurately on what has been done.
Purpose:
Each sector and each particular organisation will have its own reasons for looking to account for their social performance. Some reasons reported by organisations include the following; acting sustainably, ‘walking their talk’, improving social and environmental performance, being more accountable, attracting additional funds, becoming more economically viable, being a leader in the field, attracting a wider market, a public relations tool, meeting objectives, working within a framework and improving reporting ability. An additional factor that applies to the ‘for profit’ sector is that of mandatory social reporting. In some countries social reporting is a legal requirement. For instance, in France companies with over 300 employees are required to produce a social report. In the UK a regulation on Pension Funds “requires trustees to state the extent to which they have taken environmental and ethical considerations into account in fund management” (New Economics Foundation 2000). There are initial signs in Australia that mandatory requirements may also drive greater social accounting and reporting here. The Financial Services Reform Act