Corporate Social and Environmental Accouting Report Research Paper

Corporate Social and Environmental Accouting Report - Research Paper Example This research paper therefore seeks to elucidate the social accounting measures put into place by ANZ Bank in Australia and Citibank in the United States. In its basic connotation, social accounting refers to the process of relaying the information regarding the economic effect of the social and environmental activities of the organization. This is analyzed in the context of particular interest groups and social units within the society. The essence of social accounting is normally the concept of corporate accountability. According to Crowther (2000), social accounting is an approach used in reporting the activities of an organization in a manner that stresses the importance of socially relevant behavior while also stressing the fact that a firm should always be accountable for its social performance. In this regard, very appropriate reporting techniques become imperative as measures of the social responsiveness of the organization. It is imperative to realize that banks constitute t he largest players in the Australian Stock Exchange (ASE). Over 18 percent of the listed companies in the ASE are mostly banks while other financial institutions make up a larger portion of the top 20 companies listed on the exchange. This powerful presence presents the need for the banks to be socially accountable for their operations in the industry and society at large. Literature Review Despite the concept of Corporate Social Reporting being a topical aspect for more than two decades now, much analysis of the subject has always revolved around comparisons between the different CSR practices exhibited by different organizations across the world (Adams, 2004). In this regard, it is realized that differences in culture and national values normally account for differences exhibited in accounting practices between countries. Much literature existing on the topic basically focuses on the social disclosures of mainly firms from industrialized economies with little focus on the developi ng or recently industrialized economies (Hilmi, 2008). The idea behind social accounting presents much challenge to the concepts of conventional accounting regarding the limited image often portrayed as existing between organization and the society at large. As a normative concept, social accounting presents a more elucidative approach to the whole idea about social accountability in the sense that organizations should always extend their social accountability beyond mere economic events (Anderson, 2005). Social accounting advances the view that corporate responsibility should not simply be addressed in financial terms like it is often the case. Conventional practice has always dictated that society is the only recipient of the social responsiveness of organizations. However, in the modern setup, the stakeholders in this regard extend beyond the society and include entirely all the participants in the social world. In a way, it appears that social accounting seems to expose the emer ging tension between the realization of economic profits and the pursuit of environmental and social objectives. The idea behind social accounting is often geared toward two purposes, i.e. accountability purposes and management control. As a demonstration of accountability on the part of the organization, social accounting