Social and Environmental Accounting

Seminar 1

1
 Social and Environmental Problems
Businesses, particularly corporate business, have
been impairing and destroying social and natural
environment.
WARNING: THEY DO HAVE IMPACTS!

2
What is sustainability? Why do corporations
need to consider sustainability? What do
corporations need to do to be sustainable?

Social

Sustainability
Environment Economic

Sustainability is sometimes termed as triple

bottom line. The term triple bottom line itself
is coined by John Elkington in 1994
3
 Social and Environmental Responsibility
Some people use the term CSR to represent social and
environmental responsibility.
Corporate social responsibility (also known as sustainable
development) involves the increased recognition by publicly held
companies that they need to address and heed not only
shareholders, but all the multiple stakeholders impacted by the
companys behavior (Fraser 2005).
Which term is correct? CSR? Social responsibility? Environmental
responsibility? Sustainability?

. CSR is parts of an organizations

sustainability

4
The Aspects of Social and Environmental
Responsibility

Social Aspects
Labour Practices and Decent Work ;
Human Rights; Society; and, Product
Responsibility

Environmental Aspects
materials; energy; water; biodiversity;
emissions, effluents, & waste; products
& services; compliance; transport; and,
overall.

5
The Role of Accounting and Auditing in the
Sustainability Agenda

Accounting has a function to record and report all

sustainability activities, including social and environmental
activities, in monetary terms (if possible) and in non-
monetary terms (can be quantitative or narrative), as parts
or an organizations accountability.

Auditing of course deals with the assurance of the above

reports!!!

Professional consequence of sustainability practices on

accountants: Accountants should have sustanbale
INSTINCTS!

6
 Social and Environmental Reporting

Social reporting/social disclosure

information about an organizations impacts on the
social systems within which it operates,
encompassing issues of Labour Practices and
Decent Work; Human Rights; Society; and, Product
Responsibility (see Global Reporting Initiative 2006).
Environmental reporting/disclosure
information about an organizations impacts on living &
non-living natural systems within which it operates,
encompassing issues of materials; energy; water;
biodiversity; emissions, effluents, & waste; products
& services; compliance; transport; and, overall.

7
Social and Environmental Reporting

Sustainability Reporting:
1.Economic category CSR
2.Environmental categoryreportin
3.Social category g