Social Accounting Systems Research Articles

Accounting for social responsibility of business in the context of sustainable development

The paper focuses on the fundamental components of socially responsible business and their accounting in terms of dividing it into determinants that is justified by the emergence of corporate social reporting, the expansion of the boundaries of traditional accounting concerning the introduction of indicators related to social costs, environmental and atypical aspects. The aim of the research is to comprehensively analyze all components of the social accounting system, identify the peculiarities of socially responsible business in the context of sustainable development, and develop recommendations for the formation of methodological and organizational components of presenting relevant information in the reporting of enterprises. We have found that the modern system of social accounting reveals the facts of economic activities concerning the accounting of social costs, economic and environmental measures to make effective management decisions in terms of the impact of the enterprise activities on society, adapted to the requirements of the external and internal environment. An overview of scientific views on the essence of accounting for social reporting is considered using the methods of analysis, synthesis, comparison, grouping and generalization. The author’s opinion of the social accounting system involving the following main determinants as accounting for social responsibility of business, formation of accounting information in terms of sustainable development, environmental consequences of activity, accounting for atypical social components, accounting for reputational capital, is considered. We have substantiated that further implementation of social accounting and preparation of annual reports based on the proposed elements, can help in the formation of corporate and social responsibility of the company, expanding the range of interested parties: partners, customers and investors, i.e., magnetizing in the form of reputational capital.

The Emotional Dimension of Value: A Proposal for Its Quantitative Measurement.

The first goal of this paper is to develop a theoretical and practical framework which can help to measure the emotional value generated by organizations in quantitative terms. Its second goal is to use data obtained from the UCAN (Union of Food and Agriculture Cooperatives of Navarre) in Spain as a case study to illustrate the quantification of the emotional value generated, with a view to factoring that value into a social accounting system. Ever greater recognition of the social role of organizations in recent years has led to a need for a consistent definition of the concept of socio-emotional value, and for instruments that can be used to measure that value in terms of generic social accounting. Taking the current lack of standardization in such models and instruments, especially those that deal with emotional value as its starting point, the paper proposes a new instrument for measuring that value quantitatively in such a way as to overcome some of the limitations of earlier proposals. The underlying perspective is that the monetary values identified in market and non-market transactions do not accurately account for all the value generated for different stakeholders, and that adjustments are required through a correction factor applied to the value variables identified. The quantification of the socio-emotional value generated by an organization is seen as a more comprehensive indicator of its performance, given that it provides more information and takes into account the value generated for stakeholders as a whole in all dimensions.

Accounting for Social Responsibility and Its Applicability in Islamic banks: An Analytical Study in Saudi Arabia: محاسبة المسؤولية الاجتماعية ومدى تطبيقها في البنوك الاسلامية: دراسة تحليلية في المملكة العربية السعودية

The study aimed to identify the understanding Islamic banks in Saudi Arabia of the concept of social responsibility accounting, identify the most important obstacles to the application of social responsibility accounting in Islamic banks in Saudi Arabia, and to know the extent to which Islamic banks in Saudi Arabia apply social responsibility accounting with its three areas of (community service, human resources, and customers). The study used the descriptive analytical approach, the sample of the current study consisted of (102) employees of Islamic banks in Saudi Arabia. The results of the study showed that Islamic banks in Saudi Arabia are aware about the concept of social responsibility accounting, and there are many obstacles to the application of social responsibility accounting in banks, and the results showed that the application of banks of the areas of social responsibility accounting (customers, human resources, community service) with a high degree. The study recommended the development of the trends of economic institutions towards the use of the social responsibility accounting system.

Social Value and Urban Sustainability in Food Markets.

Urban food markets can promote sustainable development through the generation of social value in the spaces where they are located and contribute to sustainability on a global scale. To measure this, indicators are required to evaluate and monitor these markets. Studies in this regard are scarce and often developed according to top-down schemes. This study seeks to remedy this relative deficiency and aims to design specific social sustainability metrics for these organizations from a bottom-up perspective. The Integrated Social Value model is used. This social accounting system is considered appropriate in this study due to the phenomenological approach on which it is based and is applied to a service cooperative located in the Canary Islands. The main contribution of this work is that new social sustainability indicators are obtained and applied to the analysis of an entity, and they are relevant and understandable to stakeholders. This would provide, in future developments, a system of sustainability indicators for similar organizations in Spain.

РОЗВИТОК СОЦІАЛЬНОГО ОБЛІКУ: ПЕРСПЕКТИВИ ТА ВИКЛИКИ

The article considers the relationship between the concept of corporate social responsibility and the concept of sustainable development. The three most important components of enterprises under conditions of sustainable development, economic, social and environmental, have been identified. Emphasis is placed on the peculiarities of the formation of the maximum flow of total income in the economic approach. It is outlined that from the ecological point of view, sustainable development should ensure the integrity of biological and physical natural systems. The social component of the stability of the development of the economic entity is focused on people and is aimed at maintaining the stability of social and cultural systems, in particular, to reduce the number of destructive conflicts between people. It is generalized that an important aspect of this approach is the fair distribution of benefits. It is stated that social responsibility involves maintaining social records, preparing and publishing non-financial statements, which allows you to document the implementation of social tasks, which is indirectly or incompletely reflected in the accounting system. The types of social accounting (Social Responsibility Accounting (SRA), Aggregate Impact Accounting (SEA), Socio-Economic Accounting (SIA), Social Performance Accounting (SA)) are presented and their characteristics are given. The norms of international standards (AA1000, ISO 26000) regulating the international practice of social responsibility of business are given. The evolution of the formation of social responsibility reporting is outlined. The dynamics of the number of business entities of Ukraine that submit reports in accordance with the GRI is given. The peculiarities of the formation of the components of social accounting in economic entities are outlined. It is expedient for large enterprises to distinguish stages: planning (identification stage), accounting (determining the scope and setting up a social accounting system), reporting and auditing (collecting and providing information to an independent audit company). For medium and small enterprises it is advisable to distinguish the following steps: scope of activities (study of key elements of the enterprise), accounting (design and maintenance of social accounting system), reporting (reporting to interested users).

Joseph Schumpeter’s Credit View of Money: a Contribution to a “Monetary Analysis” of Capitalism

This paper highlights Joseph Schumpeter’s monetary thought, which appears to be neglected, compared to his theory of innovation and entrepreneurship. In particular, the author addresses his completely unknown writing “Das Wesen des Geldes” focused on the topic of money. This book uncovers the “essence” and the logic of money and credit that stem from Schumpeter’s experience as the finance minister and the president of a private bank. Relying on this experience, Schumpeter rediscovers and deepens the credit theory of money, which interprets the money as an institution and a social accounting system, with the banking system seen as the central agency of capitalism. “Das Wesen des Geldes” is particularly interesting, since it is the outcome of Schumpeter’s elaborations within the framework of the German Historical (Ethical) School headed by Gustav Schmoller. This was followed by his moving to the United States, and his views reversed to support the neoclassical framework in line with Marshall – Taussig canon. The fact that “Das Wesen des Geldes” was not published posthumously until 40 years after it was written, shows the coercive power of the rules within the communities of academic economists.

Monetización del valor social: el caso Clade

Hasta la fecha el análisis de la empresa se ha remitido al análisis económico, dado que tradicionalmente se ha considerado la empresa como una entidad generadora de valor económico, mientras que su valor social ha quedado relegado a un segundo plano por los principios contables predominantes. Son aún pocas las organizaciones, aunque cada vez más, que monetizan el valor social generado (algo más de una centena), y muchas las que están estableciendo el impacto social generado en la sociedad, si bien no lo monetizan. En concreto, en la economía social, las personas son más relevantes que el capital, por lo que saber el valor que esas personas perciben de la entidad es más importante que la aportación realizada al capital, ya que el primero va alineado con el ser de la organización; el propósito social que tiene. Con la finalidad de demostrar esta afirmación se ha seleccionado el caso de uno de los ocho grandes grupos empresariales de la Economía Social a nivel estatal, el grupo Clade, formado por doce empresas. El método utilizado ha sido la aplicación de un sistema de contabilidad social para cuantificar monetariamente el impacto social de cada organización y del grupo en su globalidad. Los resultados demuestran que la contabilidad clásica o tradicional no nos aporta información acerca de todas las actividades que realizan las empresas con impacto social, asimismo, contribuimos a la literatura porque el valor social generado al que llegamos con este sistema de contabilidad social demuestra la importancia que para estas entidades tiene este tipo de actividades no transaccionadas, y por ello, que no figuran en contabilidad tradicional, pero con gran aporte social.

Using a balanced scorecard to manage corporate social responsibility

AbstractThis conceptual paper aims to tie together the insights from the body of research on corporate social responsibility (CSR) and management accounting and control systems to investigate a model in which performance measurement systems (PMSs) can play a role in translating socially responsible initiatives into enhanced performance. The underlying assumption of the “fit‐as‐mediation” approach signifies that company practices can play a role in the determination of the structure and implementation of particular managerial processes, and this, in turn, may support information processing and lead to desirable results within organizations. Synthesizing theory from performance measurement and CSR, the paper's analysis and discussions elucidate how the implementation of an overarching PMS, that is, sustainability balanced scorecard (BSC), could translate the knowledge‐related factor, that is, CSR, into enhanced performance. The proposed model may inspire a new research agenda to show how socially responsible or sustainability initiatives are managed and measured in organizations and how they are properly aligned with specific managerial processes to deliver real value. Although the importance of CSR and its wide implications has long been appreciated in the literature, there still remains a paucity of information concerning the importance of particular managerial processes, for example, PMS, whereby organizations can translate their CSR into enhanced performance. This paper, therefore, seeks to bridge this gap by proposing a conceptual model in which an integrated PMS, that is, sustainability BSC, comes to play a role in the association between CSR and corporate performance.

Recent developments in social and environmental accounting research

PurposeThe last years have witnessed a growth in interest in social and environmental questions. Many companies have developed environmental management and auditing systems and altered their social and environmental disclosure practices. These developments resulted in the growth of research focusing on the analysis of information disclosed by companies. The purpose of this study is to contribute a reflection on the papers that have been published on social and environmental accounting from 2000 to 2006.Design/methodology/approachA literature review of the papers examining social and environmental matters published in selected accounting journals allows the identification of the key content issues, methodologies and research questions which have been predominant in the social environmental accounting research (SEAR) area. It also enables one to pin‐point areas for future research.FindingsThe content was examined and classified in four groups: social and environmental accounting systems; social and environmental disclosures; regulation impact; and relations among environmental disclosure and environmental performance. For each group, the research method; data origins and type of data; industry and country were identified. Almost all the studies are based on content analysis and interviews. Data are collected not only from the financial statements but also from other types of information disclosed by companies. In many cases, industry activities are selected carefully and most of the studies used data from the UK, Australia, and the USA.Originality/valueThe paper provides a contribution to the development of the SEAR area, exploring different views. It also helps schools to identify areas for future research.

Economic complexity as network complication: Multiregional input-output structural path analysis

This paper presents a description of some fundamental properties of networks of economic selfinfluence and transfer of economic influence within hierarchies of economic sub-systems using structural path analysis within a multiregional input-output system. In this fashion, exchange between sectors, activities and regions is viewed as a network that can be decomposed hierarchically; economic complexity is viewed as an emerging property of the process of network complication that accompanies the augmentation of inputs and the growing synergetic interactions between regional sub-systems. For the reasons of clarity, the cases of two and three regions are considered in detail. The treatment of the general case of n regions and the graph-theoretical description of the global augmentation process of the network complication is presented in two appendices, where the mathematical proofs can be found. It is expected that this analysis will provide a methodology that will be useful in understanding regional economic sustainability (i.e., spatial and temporal invariability), structural stability and structural changes in economic networks as well as providing insights into the role of internal and external trade between regions. To support this expectation, the detailed theoretical analysis of the block structural paths in the social accounting system is presented supplemented by economic analysis of the Indonesian social accounting matrices for 1975, 1980 and 1985.

TEMPORAL LEONTIEF INVERSE

Interest in structural change over time has created a demand for analytical tools that can assist in exploiting trends and uncover tendencies in individual sectors or parts of sectors within the context of an economywide system of accounts. This paper offers an alternative approach and is designed to be used with annual input-output or social accounting systems. To date, analysts have been faced with the prospect of conducting simple comparative static approaches or the enormity of the task involved in constructing dynamic models with complex lead and lag structures. The temporal Leontief inverse, introduced in this paper, offers a less complex, more tractable method for examining structural change when a time series of input-output tables is available. The method draws upon some earlier work that proposed the notion of a field of influence of change and explored alternative methods of decomposition of change.

SESAME: an Integrated Economic and Social Accounting System

SummaryThis article outlines a statistical information system that serves to monitor and analyze the interactions between economic development and social change. This so‐called SESAME links the monetary data in the national accounts to non‐monetary social and environmental data, and yields a consistent set of core indicators on the development of national welfare.

LINKAGES, KEY SECTORS, AND STRUCTURAL CHANGE: SOME NEW PERSPECTIVES

The Developing EconomiesVolume 33, Issue 3 p. 243-246 Free Access LINKAGES, KEY SECTORS, AND STRUCTURAL CHANGE: SOME NEW PERSPECTIVES Michael SONIS, Michael SONISSearch for more papers by this authorJoaquim J. M. GUILHOTO, Joaquim J. M. GUILHOTOSearch for more papers by this authorGeoffrey J. D. HEWINGS, Geoffrey J. D. HEWINGSSearch for more papers by this authorEduardo B. MARTINS, Eduardo B. MARTINSSearch for more papers by this author Michael SONIS, Michael SONISSearch for more papers by this authorJoaquim J. M. GUILHOTO, Joaquim J. M. GUILHOTOSearch for more papers by this authorGeoffrey J. D. HEWINGS, Geoffrey J. D. HEWINGSSearch for more papers by this authorEduardo B. MARTINS, Eduardo B. MARTINSSearch for more papers by this author First published: September 1995 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1746-1049.1995.tb00716.xCitations: 47AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume33, Issue3September 1995Pages 243-246 This article also appears in:The Developing Economies in Commemoration of Its 60th Anniversary ReferencesRelatedInformation

Time Budgets as Social Indicators

The social indicators movement sought to establish a system of social accounting that was broader than the money-based national income accounts. Specialized studies of social trends in housing, health, crime, and so forth could be successful in illuminating a specific area of social life, but together they became obstacles to the achievement of the ideal of an integrated set of social accounts. Even if crime and housing have a relationship the statistics generated within each domain are together incommensurable.

Whatever Happened to Social Indicators? A Symposium

ABSTRACTTwenty years ago the publication of Toward a Social Report by the United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare was hailed as a major forward step in developing indicators of conditions in society into a national system of social accounting of relevance to public policy. The resulting social indicators movement quickly mobilized able social scientists to produce a variety of indicators monitoring trends in their society, and internationally. National governments too began to sponsor new types of social reports. The years since have seen an apparent decline in the momentum of the social indicators movement. Hence, to evaluate developments, the Journal of Public Policy invited a number of distinguished pioneers in the movement in Europe and America to give their individual assessment of what has happened to social indicators.

Corporate social responsibility and public accountability

The development of legislation determining corporate behaviour is a fascinating topic, offering insight into the societal problems of corporate enterprise as they are related to their accounting, their administration, and their external reporting. In this paper the following specific implications for accounting are examined: -Should accountants get involved in social auditing and are they the ‘core’ persons in corporate social accounting systems? -Should corporate social performance measurement and reporting become obligatory and to what extent? -A general framework for the implementation of corporate social accounting systems is suggested and quidelines for its auditing are proposed. -A tentative set of social auditing standard is outlined together with its methodological accompaniments.

Performance Evaluation of Public Enterprise in Pakistan: Experiment in Social Accounting System

The specific requirements of the performance evaluation system for public enterprises emanate from the peculiar characteristics of those institutions. The concept of public enterprise implicitly assumes the existence of two dimensions - the enterprise dimension and the public dimension. The enterprise dimension involves the setting up of a recognizable organization engaged in the production of goods and services, marketed at a price, and whose transactions are formulated through a system of commercial accounts such as balance sheets and profit-and-loss accounts_ The public dimension, on the other hand, involves public ownership, public management, and control, and assumes the existence of public purposes and the fulfillment of public interest [9. p. 39].

Social Accounting Systems: Essays on the State of the Art.

This book contains papers prepared for a Workshop on Social Accounting Systems: Critique and Assessment of Prospects held in Washington on March 24-26 1980. The papers focus on describing and evaluating the current state of the art of empirically based approaches to social accounting including both time-based and demographic accounting systems. Papers are included entitled Demographic accounts and the study of social change with applications to the post-World War II United States; The relationship of demographic accounts to national income and product accounts; and The conceptual and empirical strengths and limitations of demographic and time-based accounts.

The role of prior information in updating regional input-output models

The research reported here focuses on several issues: (1) the specification and measurement of errors in single region input-output models and their impacts on the construction of new models from survey and nonsurvey sources and the updating of existing models; (2) the problems of errors in input-output models when the latter are incorporated into more extensive social accounting systems and (3) linkages between the aggregation issue, error analysis and micro-to-macro modelling within an input-output framework. Empirical analysis is conducted on many of these issues by reference to the State of Washington input-output models for 1963, 1967 and 1972.

Social Indicators

This paper reviews the development of the field of social indicators from its origins in the 1960s to the present. Three classes of social indicators are identified: normative welfare indicators, which focus on direct measures of welfare and are subject to the interpretation that if they change in the right direction while other things remain equal things have gotten better or people are better off; satisfaction indicators, which measure psychological satisfaction, happiness, and life fulfillment by using survey research instruments that ascertain the subjective reality in which people live; and the most inclusive category, descriptive social indicators, which are indexes of social conditions (i.e. contexts of human existence) and changes therein for various segments of a population. Correspondingly, two conceptions of how social indicators are to be interpreted and used are discussed: One, which emphasizes the policy-analytic uses of social indicators, presumes that the proper relationship of social indicators to social policy occurs at the level of operating or managing organizations; the other, which emphasizes the uses of social indicators in social reporting, presumes that the proper role of social indicators is public enlightenment and the formation of general as opposed to operational policy. Three sociological contributions to the descriptive social indicators/enlightenment approach are described: the development of replication and longitudinal studies, the production of analytical studies of social change and social reports, and the creation of formal models for the analysis of data on social change. Current research problems that are identified include the development of social accounting systems, the construction of indicators of institutional values and structures, and the production of improved social forecasts and forecasting techniques. It is concluded that, while issues of public concern may change from time to time, the critical public and private sectors continue to need statistical information about current social conditions and trends.