Accounting for human rights: The challenge of globalization and foreign investment agreements

The triumph of neoliberalism has promoted trade and investment as the dominant routes to economic and social development. This has further enhanced the power of transnational corporations. Developing countries are increasingly expected to secure foreign investment to stimulate their economies and lift the local population out of poverty. However, foreign investment also has implications for protection and enjoyment of human rights. Transnational corporations manage their risks by imposing stabilization clauses on host countries that constrain their ability to protect and enhance human rights. Conventional accounting and corporate social responsibility reports seem to be unable to respond to the emerging agenda on human rights. This paper seeks to stimulate debates about the protection and enjoyment of human rights by drawing attention to the way corporations constrain governments and people through clauses in investment agreements. Some evidence is provided through an examination of an investment agreement relating to the Chad–Cameroon oil and pipeline project. The paper calls for the production of counter accounts to challenge the hegemony of corporations and create spaces for the enjoyment of human rights.     

The construction of a social account: a case study in an overseas aid agency

This paper presents a case study examining the evolution of a social accounting process in an Irish overseas aid agency, the Agency for Personal Service Overseas. Much of the corporate rhetoric surrounding social accounting processes simplifies their complex nature and tends to downplay many concerns as to how they can effect ‘real' organisational change and empower stakeholders. The case exposes this complexity by illuminating the contradictions, tensions and obstacles that permeated one such process. The paper contributes to the recent increase in field work in the social accounting literature, called for by Gray [Account. Orga. Soc. 27 (2002) 687], which seeks a richer, more in-depth understanding of how and why social accounting evolves within organisations.     

A comparative analysis of theological and critical perspectives on emancipatory praxis through accounting

This paper examines the insights that the interface between critical theory and different theologies can bring to our understanding of accounting's emancipatory potential. The paper begins with a comparative analysis of critical perspectives and Jewish and Christian theological perspectives on emancipatory praxis, with a particular emphasis on emancipation from spiritual alienation. The theological perspectives are based on the two creation stories in the biblical book of Genesis and what they teach about human relationships, social justice, and spiritual development. The paper then illustrates what a theological education might be like within the context of an accounting or management degree, where the objective is to encourage business students to think reflectively, ethically, and spiritually about themselves, their profession, and other people. Next, the paper considers how alternative accounting reporting and disclosure practices can promote the spiritual development of individual persons and their communities. The conclusion discusses structural constraints that would shape and be shaped by the proposed emancipatory accounting practices, and acknowledges that other spiritual traditions besides Western theology also can be mobilized to promote emancipatory accounting education and practice in a pluralistic society.     

论企业社会责任信息披露影响因素

在建设和谐社会的宏观环境下,企业作为社会经济发展的主体,社会责任的履行情况受到越来越多的关注,企业社会责任信息披露也成为迫切需要研究的课题.本文以电煤水、食品饮料和石化塑行业的企业年报为对象搜集数据,构建企业社会责任信息披露指数以衡量企业社会责任信息披露水平,利用多元分析探寻我国企业社会责任信息披露的影响因素.     

Disclosure responses to mining accidents: South African evidence

Mining activities generate significant social concerns in terms of employee safety and stakeholder scrutiny has increased considerably in recent years. Social and environmental accounting research is largely dedicated to environmental issues and the study of other components of social accounting is limited. This study examines safety disclosures in the annual reports, sustainability reports, and reactive corporate press releases of South African mining organisations following two major mining accidents occurring at Harmony Gold and Gold Fields’ mines. Results show that organisations react to perceived legitimacy threats through increased safety disclosures. The entire mining industry evidences an increase in disclosure levels after the incidents, suggesting that organisations do respond to increased stakeholder scrutiny threatening their legitimacy. Furthermore, our results provide evidence of an association between safety disclosure levels and firm size, social performance, risk, and number of fatalities, while the media attention devoted to mining accidents appears to be unrelated to safety disclosure levels. It is possible that stakeholder pressure, which motivates corporate social disclosures according to legitimacy and stakeholder theories, consists of various factors, which combined form the motivation to report. Media attention, therefore, cannot be considered in isolation as a driver of disclosure. Rather, a combination of variables such as size, social responsibility performance, number of fatalities, risk, and media attention could serve as a proxy for social pressure.     

Shareholder protection,income inequality and social health: A proposed research agenda

This paper develops a proposed research agenda in order to highlight how corporate governance, accounting and company law are relevant to the consideration of income inequality and wider social health. To illustrate this proposed research agenda, this paper draws on corporate governance research in the law and finance tradition, as well as macro-level studies in accounting concerned with the wider corporate governance context, in order to consider the association between shareholder protection, income inequality and child mortality. Under 5 child mortality is an objective indication of a country’s ability to nurture its children. In an influential body of work, La Porta et al. (1997a, 1997b, 1998, 2008) concluded that a common law legal system which protected the interests of shareholders gave rise to better economic and social outcomes. However, drawing on corporate governance and accounting literature we contend that such a conclusion is flawed. The findings of this paper suggest that common law countries (i.e. those with the greater legal protection for investors) have worse social outcomes in terms of under-5 child mortality.     

Accountants' Attitudes and Environmentally-sensitive Accounting

Accounting for the environment (ICAEW, 1992) is receiving increasing attention. A series of initial interviews, visits and other contacts with a wide range of organisations and accountants on three continents left us with the impression that accountants and accounting do not appear to be involved in corporate responses to the environmental agenda. This paper is an exploration and examination of that impression. A mail questionnaire survey confirmed that accountants have low levels of involvement in their company's environmental activities and, from responses to personal opinion questions, appear to experience a conflict between their awareness of environmental issues and an inability to translate this into action within their corporate life. These attitudes are explored in the paper and would be a sufficient explanation for the absence of environmental accounting in practice.     

新中国七十年企业会计改革发展的演进逻辑与理论诠释

建国七十年来企业会计改革在社会主义建设中纵横捭阖,在改革开放中创新开拓,交织出中华民族伟大复兴棋局中的会计经纬。随着新中国七十载时代变迁和历史沉淀,企业会计改革发展持续释放出影响深远的力度、深度与温度,焕发出蓬勃的制度生命力与广泛的理论影响力。站在新的历史方位上,以马克思实践唯物主义为逻辑起点,以我国企业会计改革发展历程为研究基础,钩沉与梳理七十载企业会计改革发展演进脉络,探索与诠释七十载企业会计改革发展理论内涵,以期进一步丰富和发展中国特色企业会计理论与方法体系,推动企业会计改革发展更好地服务新时代经济社会进步。     

The emancipatory potential of extinction accounting: Exploring current practice in integrated reports

This paper adopts a normative approach to develop a dynamic form of corporate reporting designed to deal with the threat posed by mass extinction of species. The proposed reporting framework is intended to show how a type of accounting – which is referred to as extinction accounting – can and should be used to drive positive corporate change and prevent the loss of species. The framework is inspired by both an anthropocentric and deep ecological view on nature and draws on accountancy’s emancipatory potential rather than attempting to find a substitute for current technologies of accounting and accountability. The prior literature on biodiversity and emancipatory accounting is complemented by showing how an innovative form of reporting on a specific environmental issue can be operationalised and used in the short-term to respond to the threats posed by mass extinction.     

Scientific Utopia and accounting

This paper approaches the question of the role of accounting in society by studying utopian social literature. Particular consideration is given to the work of Proudhon who proposed that accounting should be regarded as a means of solving the most important of all social problems, i.e. those of economy and justice. In spite of the fact that Proudhon presented accounting as a social scientific theory and technique for solving the problem of equality in society, the paper argues that such a view reflects a predominantly utopian vision of the world. Though Proudhon rightly pointed out the normative character of accounting, its juridical value and its capacity to reflect economic life, he failed to detach himself from the belief that there could exist a universal means of economic control and planning leading to a state of complete justice in society. However, the Proudhonian association between accounting and justice is not irrelevant in the modern debate on the role of accounting in society. If accounting has not taken the form envisaged by Proudhon it has at least evolved towards the similar objective of determining what is true in the context of economy. If only for this reason, Proudhon's general theory of accounting is worthy of attention.     

The ‘performativity thesis’ and its critics: Towards a relational ontology of management accounting

This paper explores accounting's mediating role in bringing theoretical statements from economics into life. It addresses the so-called performativity thesis that claims that economic theory does not just observe and explain a reality, but rather shapes, formats and performs reality. Accounting mediates in that process by creating cognitive boundaries that embed societal practices in economic theory. However, the performativity thesis is not without criticisms. Its main criticisms concern a lack of proof of the thesis; an overestimation of the power of economics to extend beyond the virtual; and a lack of a critical stance. In order to bring more nuance in the discussion on the performativity thesis the paper reflects on evidence from the field of accounting. The review of accounting studies reveals how accounting, to different degrees, is implicated in strategic and operational activities in markets and organisations and how it is a performative mechanism of economisation. Moreover, in order to accentuate the ‘good’ in society and to challenge the ‘bad’, the paper suggests a further development of (critical) management accounting research into the performativity of both economics and other social theories. A relational ontology of management accounting that is in politics and that is sensitive to ‘unlocalisable’ virtual powers of social-historical formations of management accounting may be developed.     

An analysis of the role of accounting standards for enhancing corporate governance and social responsibility

Accounting standards have been suggested as a means of requiring reporting by corporations that would enhance managers' concern for their shareholders and/or society. The analysis presented in this paper, however, leads to the conclusion that this role for accounting standards is not likely to be beneficial. The conclusion is based on the fact that the required measurements for useful standards cannot generally be made. This inherent limitation is absolute with respect to social responsibility concerns. With respect to corporate governance, accounting standards might be useful, primarily for reporting potentially fraudulent dealings and similar misuses of shareholder's assets by corporate managers. But even then, the cost of an accounting standard, ex ante, is likely to exceed its benefits to shareholders.     

Corporate Social Responsibility: Why Business Should Act Responsibly and Be Accountable

This paper identifies drivers which are pressurising organisations to adopt corporate social responsibility and produce corporate social reports. The authors discuss what constitutes a good report, some of the problems with current reporting practices, benefits to organisations which produce corporate social reports and the costs to those which do not.     

The accountant will have a central role in saving the planet … really? A reflection on ‘green accounting and green eyeshades twenty years later’

There is widespread but not universal acceptance that organisations should provide ‘accounts’ of not only their financial performance, but also of their social and environmental performance. There have also been various suggestions across time that traditional financial reporting frameworks, albeit with some modification, have relevance to calls for greater corporate accountability. This paper seeks to dismiss such suggestions. For the accounting profession to be able to meaningfully contribute to extending accountability beyond investors, lenders, and creditors (and it undoubtedly serves these interests well) it will need to abandon many core accounting conventions and principles – something that is deemed unlikely to occur – at least in the readers’ lifetime. This paper also highlights the apparent absurdity of using market-based mechanisms (such as cap-and-trade systems for pollutants) to solve social and environmental problems that were effectively caused by ‘the market’. Having questioned the role of the accounting profession in contributing to broad-based corporate accountability, the paper concludes by questioning the role of accounting and business educators in instilling some form of personal social responsibility in the minds of students.     

中国内部控制的社会认同度研究

严格严密的内部控制制度是现代公司治理实现其基本目标的前提条件。对经营权的有效控制并使之与股东利益保持动态一致,只有在内部控制制度的全力保障下,才有可能成为现实。一个社会对公司治理、一个公司对自身治理的关注和重视程度,直接体现在其对公司内部控制制度的关注和重视上。本文从法律法规的制定、公司自身、会计师事务所和投资者四个角度考察了中国社会对内部控制的关注程度,借以对中国公司治理认同度问题做出大致判断。基于对内部控制关注程度的研究发现,公司治理在我国仍缺乏应有的认同,从而使得公司治理在我国的实践中可能只是一种徒具驱壳而缺乏实质内容和实在效果的时髦理论。     

An examination of the political salience of corporate tax avoidance: A case study of the Tax Justice Network

Corporate tax avoidance (CTA) has become a high profile issue despite being a complex area of accounting practice. One reason for this has been the civil society campaign opposing tax avoidance. The paper provides a case study of one key civil society actor: the Tax Justice Network (TJN). Existing accounting analysis offers little to explain how some accounting issues acquire political attention and media coverage. To address this, the concept of political salience is introduced into accounting analysis – understood as the creation of focal points in campaigns – to consider how the TJN contributed to the political profile of CTA.     

Accounting for time: managing time in project-based teamworking

In this paper, we investigate time management in project based teamworking, a form of work that is seen as becoming a significant feature in many organisations, and consider its implications for accounting control. The analysis is based on a perspective on time in organisations which, drawing on time-geography, considers the management of time in project-based teamworking organisations as part of the organisational actors' ongoing active production and reproduction of their social context. We grounded this perspective in a longitudinal ethnographic study of project-based teamworking, which examined the development process of computer-based management information systems for top executives in a large multinational company. The extended time-geography perspective presented in this paper offers a theoretical framework within which various organisational practices may be explained and provides a better understanding of the social dynamics of time management than is provided by traditional accounting approaches. The implications of this perspective for the use of accounting practices in the management of time in project-based teamworking are discussed.     

Civil liberties and social and environmental information transparency: A global investigation of financial institutions

Civil liberties enable the media, social movements, and other stakeholders to expect companies to be more transparent and forthcoming with relevant social and environmental information. Drawing on social movement theory in general, and the notion of civil liberty in particular, we analyse the availability of social and environmental information of 300 financial companies from 50 countries over a nine-year period, to investigate the influence of country-level civil liberties on the availability of social and environmental information.We find that companies headquartered in countries with high levels of civil liberties make more social and environmental information publicly available than companies headquartered in countries with low levels of civil liberties. Furthermore, an improvement in civil liberties in countries with lower civil liberties has a bigger impact on changes in the availability of social and environmental information.Our research is relevant for the ongoing concerns of social and environmental transparency initiatives by governments, NGOs, and civil rights organisations. Policy implications for countries with lower civil liberties (typical developing nations) are that if they wish to encourage more transparent corporate information, they need to strengthen their country-level civil liberties.     

The societal relevance of management accounting: An introduction to the special issue

This essay introduces the special issue of Accounting and Business Research exploring the societal relevance of management accounting and locates the individual contributions within this research agenda. In contrast to prevailing, managerialist conceptions of relevance, the discussion is guided by an over-riding ambition to turn management accounting research “inside out” to examine the effects of management accounting practices on a broader range of constituencies and interests in society and the formation of such practices beyond individual organisations. I start by charting the development of extant and emerging debates on the relevance of management accounting research and practice and then outline some pertinent research themes worthy of further exploration. In doing so, I pay particular attention to emerging research illustrating how management accounting becomes implicated in the external regulation and governance of organisations, the shaping of markets and the wider, societal consequences of such processes. I also discuss some theoretical and methodological implications of exploring such topics.