Experiences from a student programme designed to examine the role of the accountant in corporate social responsibility (CSR)

Abstract

This paper investigates how one course – a final year undergraduate module – has been developed and implemented to inform students about corporate social responsibility from an accounting perspective. It takes as its core the notion of accounting and accountability, and is delivered by accounting lecturers to business students following a range of business programmes. It has an interdisciplinary approach to allow a variety of topics to be addressed and to encourage students to read literature they would otherwise not come across. The course has been running for several years and has been amended as experiences – such as the need for assimilation of current topics and the development of a more critical approach to accounting – are assimilated, and as knowledge is built up. What follows is a study of the course, its content and approach, the barriers to developing an effective critique of the subject, and some thoughts on its further development.