Editorial Notes Issues on Social and Environmental Accounting

Abstract

The new millennium saw the emergenceof a new way of thinking about the functionsand duties of modern corporations.The growing international demands forcompanies to be more transparent andaccountable for their economic, socialand environmental impacts everywherethey operate. Corporate managers arepressed with more responsibility to servethe needs of society at large. Today,businesses are expected not only to increasetheir bottom line but also to operatewithin the ‘new moral marketplace’.Corporate morality is increasingly beingjudged by consumers, investors and employees.Terms that are alien to many afew years ago such as ‘green marketing’,‘environmentally friendly’, ‘gender sensitive’,‘fair trade’, ‘against animal testing’and many more become householdwords and high on consumers’ conscienceof today. Beyond that, globalissues like, the oil crisis, environmentaldegradation, human rights, labour issuesand energy issue forced the companiesto reconsider their objectives. Instead ofjust trying to maximize profit and pleasetheir shareholders, many multinationalcorporations are beginning to understandthat they now have a broad spectrum ofstakeholders. This includes investors,creditors, employee, governments,NGOs and the various communities inwhich they operate. Businesses have tosatisfy all these stakeholders’ needs, thushave an additional role and purpose.Hence, the term corporate social responsibility(CSR) was born.Whilst CSR in the seventies and eightiesare more towards meeting society’s expectations,and earn from society theinformal ‘license to operate’, disclosingsuch information falls under the task ofCorporate Public Relation Department.The information provided understandablywould be more of an image enhancerto communicate and demonstrate a company’scommitment to improve socialperformance. In today’s world the wholequestion of business and environmentalsustainability has emerged to the forefrontwith the ravages of climate changeand global warming. This increasinglycalls for companies to align their CSRstrategies to sustainability so that sustainablepractices can be further enhanced.With greater consumer sophisticationand expectation for sustainabilitydevelopment, CSR is gaining competitiveadvantage in terms of market share,attracting top talent and employee retention.Well focussed and managed CSRinitiatives should improve relationshipwith stakeholders and yield better financialresults through sustainable innovation,investment and decision making.Thus, there is the need for the accountingfraternity to step in to provide informationsuch as long-run profitability,sustainability, social and environmentalinvestment, improved performance and many more. Beyond that, the accountingprofession, academics, researches aswell as the practitioners need to play abigger role of not only providing datafor disclose but also the quality and theassurance of the data provided.

Therefore, it is imperative that Issues onSocial and Environmental Accountingbe published to provide an avenue foraccounting academics, researchers aswell as practitioners to publish theirfindings and serves a platform for intellectualdiscourse. As can be seen fromthe articles published, this journal is indeedan international journal withoutdiminishing local flavour. Even thoughsome of the articles are country specific,authors from various countries like Japan,Malaysia, Indonesia and Canadadiscuss issues that are internationallyrelevant, interconnected and comprehensive.These issues such as Ethics, Environmental,Social, Disclosures, Sustainability,Performance, to name a few, allrelated to the 3 Ps’ (Profit, Planet andPeople) and the Triple Bottom Line, arescrutinised and deliberated in the articles.

Through the years, CSR has evolves andcomes in variety of approaches. Nonetheless,its characteristics remain unaffected.Companies are starting to realizethat adopting socially responsible behaviourand voluntary course of action canprovide long-term interests. CSR is alsoessentially tied to the concept of sustainabledevelopment. It promotes integrationof economic, social and environmentaloutcomes in standard managementand accounting systems. ThereforeCSR should be continuously driven tohigher levels to build on existing practice,optimizing its impact and making apositive link between social responsibilitiesand best business practices. A trulyeffective CSR strategy should be alive,adaptable and embedded into the organisationand aligned to the commercialobjectives of the organisation. Thesestrategies must then be implemented andpractices, followed by reporting and disclosingthem to the various stakeholders.Copyright © www.iiste.org