Social Paradigms and Attitudes Toward Environmental Accountability

This paper argues that commitment to the Dominant Social Paradigm (DSP) in Western societies, which includes support for such ideologies as free enterprise, private property rights, economic individualism, and unlimited economic growth, poses a threat to progress in imposing greater standards of corporate environmental accountability. It is hypothesized that commitment to the DSP will be negatively correlated with support for the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) and support for corporate environmental accountability, and that belief in the NEP will be positively correlated with support for corporate environmental accountability. The findings, based on a survey of MBA students, are generally consistent with the hypotheses. William E. Shafer is an associate professor in the Department of Accountancy at Lingnan University in Hong Kong. His primary research interests are professionalism and ethics in accounting and corporate social and environmental accountability. His publications have appeared in a variety of academic and professional journals, including Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory; Accounting Horizons; Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal; Business Ethics Quarterly; Journal of Business Ethics; Journal of Accountancy; and The CPA Journal.     

从国际视角看强化我国企业社会责任的必要性

本文认为,目前我国对企业的社会责任认识不一,存在一些误区,有的甚至有抵触情绪。文章提出,从国外的企业社会责任报告制度来看,我国一方面应以政府引导、妥善应对、稳步推进、和谐发展、趋利避害为指导方针,加快企业社会责任法制化,建立我国企业社会责任评价标准和体系,充分发挥工会在强化企业社会责任方面的作用,加大对企业社会责任的宣传力度。另一方面,企业也要重视企业社会责任,积极担负起企业应肩负的社会责任,在注重自身发展的同时承担起社会责任,实现企业发展和社会发展的双赢目标。     

Compliance with Mandatory Environmental Reporting in Financial Statements: The Case of Spain (2001–2003)

Corporate, Social, Ethical and Environmental Reporting (SEER) should ideally discharge the accountability of an organisation to its stakeholders. Voluntary reporting has been characterised by a dearth of neutral and objective information such that the advocates of SEER recommend that it be made compulsory. Their underlying rationale is that legally specified disclosure requirements and enforcement mechanisms will enhance the quality of such reporting. This paper sets out to explore how realistic this scenario actually is, in view of the conflicting interpretations in the literature on this subject. To that end, a survey of the reporting patterns of 78 of the largest Spanish companies between 2001 and 2003 examines the extent of their compliance with the ICAC-2002 standard, which obliged them to make environmental disclosures in their financial statements. The results suggest that progressive and improved regulation could increase the volume and quality of SEER disclosures. They also suggest, however, that persistent non-compliance means that the problems associated with voluntary disclosure still exist. Finally, through an impression management perspective, the study reveals, the diverse strategies, ranging from dismissal to concealment, that are employed by companies to avoid transparency. As regulation improves and enforcement expectations rise, it becomes more difficult to dismiss compulsory reporting norms. As a result, some firms engage in more complex concealment strategies to attain corporate legitimacy, depriving stakeholders of regulatory information. The latter point serves to reconcile apparently contradictory explanations in the literature as to whether legitimacy theory might explain partial compliance with SEER regulation. Irene Criado-Jiménez is a Doctoral Candidate at the Departamento de Economía y Administración de Empresas, Universidad de Burgos. Her research interests include accounting for sustainable development and corporate accountability. Manuel Fernández-Chulián is a Doctoral Candidate at the Departamento de Economía y Administración de Empresas, Universidad de Burgos. His research interests include sustainability reporting and full cost accounting. Francisco Javier Husillos-Carqués is Assistant at the Departamento de Gestión de Empresas, Universidad Pública de Navarra and a Doctoral Candidate at the Universidad de Burgos. His research interests include social and environmental reporting and environmental management. Carlos Larrinage-González is Associate Professor at the Departamento de Economía y Administración de Empresas, Universidad de Burgos. His research interests include social and environmental accounting. He writes for interdisciplinary journals in accounting. He has co-edited special issues in European Accounting Review and Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal and currently is an Associate Editor of the Revista de Contabilidad-Spanish Accounting Review.     

From Stakeholder Management to Stakeholder Accountability

Confronted with mounting pressure to ensure accountability vis-à-vis customers, citizens and beneficiaries, organizational leaders need to decide how to choose and implement so-called accountability standards. Yet while looking for an appropriate standard, they often base their decisions on cost-benefit calculations, thus neglecting other important spheres of influence pertaining to more broadly defined stakeholder interests. We argue in this paper that, as a part of the strategic decision for a certain standard, management needs to identify and act according to the needs of all stakeholders. We contend that the creation of a dialogical understanding among affected stakeholders cannot be a mere outcome of applying certain accountability standards, but rather must be a necessary precondition for their use. This requires a stakeholder dialogue prior to making a choice. We outline such a discursive decision framework for accountability standards based on the Habermasian concept of communicative action and, in the final section, apply our conceptual framework to one of the most prominent accountability tools (AA 1000). Andreas Rasche is currently working at the chair for Business Administration at the Helmut-Schmidt-University, Hamburg, Germany and is finishing his PhD in strategic management at EUROPEAN BUSINESS SCHOOL, Germany where he is also teaching business ethics. His research interests include the institutionalization of ethics initiatives in multinational corporations (see also www.ethics-in-pratice.org) and reflections about the theory of strategic management. Daniel Esser until recently was a Tutorial Fellow in Development Management at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He is now working for the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific where he is involved in the design and management of urban governance programmes and service schemes supporting the poverty reduction agenda for the region.     

国际企业社会责任与我国劳动者权利保护

本文认为,中国在成为“世界工厂”的同时,劳工问题也日益突出,并被国际社会所关注。目前我国企业在社会责任方面存在的问题,集中表现在侵害劳动者合法权益现象严重,如签订劳动合同的比率很低,劳动者的经济利益得不到保障,劳动条件恶劣、劳动安全问题严重,不支付加班工资,劳动者的生存权受到侵害等。文章提出,为维护劳动者权益,第一,要在全国范围内推行以签订劳动合同为基础的劳动用工登记制度。第二,各级政府和部门要加大执法力度,严厉查处拒不执行最低工资规定的用人单位。第三,劳动保障部门要加强对劳动定额标准的管理,建立和完善日常监察制度。第四,加快社会保障制度建设,抓紧解决进城务工人员参保问题。第五,要加快制订《劳动合同法》、《社会保险法》、《劳动争议处理法》、《就业促进法等法律》,修改完善《劳动法》。     

Understanding the Enforcement Malfunction of Consumer Legislation in Serbia

The new Serbian Law on Consumer Protection was passed in October 2010, and its enactment and general outlook may be attributed to the continuous political pressure and financial and technical support by the European Union (EU). This paper outlines several factors that may have contributed to the weakness of enforcement in Serbia, so that while consumer legislation is fairly harmonized with the EU acquis, national standards of consumer protection lag behind those in the EU. These tentative explanations of the enforcement malfunction include (1) the lack of institutional capacity to receive the professional and technical support of the EU, (2) external pressure as the main incentive for legislative change, (3) the lack of belief in the social relevance of legislative changes as such, (4) the deficiency of the enforcement mechanisms and the lack of appreciation of their importance, and (5) the absence of cooperation between the stakeholders and institutional resistance to change. Consumer protection is not an exceptional field characterized by the risks of enforcement failure. Moreover, the difficulties described in the article are not limited to Serbia, as they also happen in other jurisdictions, even if in different shapes and forms. The success of aligning the national norms to those of the EU and the success of legal transplants in general are always quite uncertain. In that sense, the case of consumer policy in Serbia should be understood as an instance that may illuminate a class of phenomena.     

Accountability in Crisis: The Sponsorship Scandal and the Office of the Comptroller General in Canada

For much of the last 50 years, a key platform animating public sector reform in Canada and elsewhere has been that efficiency and effectiveness can be achieved by adapting private sector financial management methods and practices. We argue that the recent re-establishment of the Office of the Comptroller General (OCG) of Canada represents a key element of a program of strengthening financial accountability that has emerged within the Canadian Federal Government. Although this program is longstanding and is associated Canada’s implementation of new public management initiatives, it has recently drawn particular sustenance from the sponsorship scandal in Canada. We demonstrate that the reincarnated OCG, re-established amid a rhetoric of “modernization” and of “strengthening” accountability, has a wide-ranging mandate to enhance financial and audit controls, create financial standards, nurture professional development, and oversee government spending. We explore some of the consequences of this development and of the broader financial accountability mechanisms introduced in response to the Sponsorship scandal within the Canadian public sector.     

Backlash Hits Business Ethics: Finding Effective Strategies for Communicating the Importance of Corporate Social Responsibility

Recently, several articles have asserted that corporate social responsibility programs have gone too far and need to be reigned in. These critics have charged that corporate social responsibility is to be regarded with skepticism and that any changes in corporate accountability should be superficial at best. I will examine a␣number of these objections; I conclude that these critiques are largely ill founded, but that their increasing frequency in popular media is a cause for concern. I argue that these purported objections are better understood as one part of a long-term cycle that generally accompanies positive moral change in institutions. Using the feminist movement as a touchstone, I examine the similarities between backlash against the movement for corporate accountability as compared to backlash against feminists. I␣also suggest ways in which successful strategies adopted by feminists could be used effectively to communicate the aims of those working to increase awareness of business accountability.     

超越经济学：财政分权研究的近期动向及公共管理意蕴

随着中国逐渐强调经济与社会的平衡发展以及财政分权实践的不断深化,财政分权领域的研究格局应由以往过多地注重于经济增长转到民生、社会发展方面,总结国际学术界的研究动向无疑对中国分权体制的研究与进一步改革具有重要的启示与借鉴意义。分权作为公共管理工具的价值意蕴是新近文献的特点,这在公共参与、政府责任与政府治理等议题中得到了充分体现,同时取得的另一个共识是,实现分权管理体制的多重价值需要良好的治理框架与制度环境。     

关于会计权责发生制改革的研究——基于政府预算会计与政府财务会计结合模式

政府会计权责发生制改革对于提升政府财务管理水平,加强公共事业具有积极的作用。随着经济的发展,我国现有的政府会计体系已不能满足政府的财务管理需求,不能正确全面反映政府的财务状况,不利于推进政府财政和预算管理改革,亟需将政府预算会计与政府财务会计相结合。我国应加快建立与完善相关法律法规,有效结合权责发生制与收付实现制,加强政府权责发生制会计改革的技术支持,提高政府会计人员的素质,同时还需各领导者高度重视权责发生制会计改革,以促进改革的顺利实现。     

Government and Market Mechanisms to Provide Alternatives to Scrap Tire Disposal

SUMMARY

The current study examines disposal and recycling of scrap tires with a discussion of the role of government policies and an empirical study of tire dealers' preferences for market and government solutions to disposal problems. Preference for government intervention was related positively to dealer perceptions of environmental concerns, consumer concerns and the severity of the problem, but related negatively to dealers' assessments of manufacturer effectiveness in disposal solutions. Results show the need for more information from manufacturers and government agencies and show dealer support of specific remedies in developing new uses, technologies, and markets for scrap tires. Market development and commercialization of recycled products may be facilitated by cooperation of involved business and government agencies. Particular government actions to stimulate markets include enforcement of disposal restrictions; provision of technological and capital assistances; participation in setting industry standards for recycled rubber products; and state procurement policies.     

推行军队工程问责制的思考

推行军队工程问责制是一项深刻的改革,它适应了国家行政部门推行问责制的客观需要。它的推行有利于增强人们的事业心责任感,提高工程经费使用效益,促进军队建设。推行军队工程问责制,要参照地方和外军成功经验,根据军队工程管理的特点,更好地选择改革路径。推行军队工程问责制度,能使工程管理更加科学化、规范化、透明化,实现基本建设经费效益的最大化。文章探讨了问责制实行过程中应注意的几个问题。     

The Hypothesized Relationship Between Accountability and Ethical Behavior

Unethical behavior is important to study because it may have an adverse influence on organizational performance. This paper is an attempt to better understand why individuals behave as they do when faced with ethical dilemmas. We first explore the definition, theories and models of ethical behaviors and accountability. This discussion of societal ethics and accountability as forms of social control segues into a discussion of how accountability may influence ethical behaviors. Based on the business ethics and accountability literatures, we suggest a number of research questions and hypotheses that need to be tested, as well as an appropriate research strategy.     

Globalization and the Good Corporation: A Need for Proactive Co-existence

Large corporations are coming under intense pressure to act in a socially responsible manner. Corporations have accepted this notion provided that it is exercised voluntarily. It has also been argued that corporations can do well by doing good, and that good ethics is good business. This paper presents an alternative viewpoint by demonstrating that while voluntary socially responsible conduct is desirable, it plays a rather small role in inspiring good corporate conduct. Instead, (a) it is the external economic-competitive conditions that define the parameters and opportunities for good corporate conduct; and (b) the values and traditions of the corporations, and their perceived risk in exploiting those opportunities, that influence the extent of a corporation's socially responsible conduct. The framework presented here analyzes certain market-competitive conditions, which determine the scope and direction of socially responsible corporate conduct, and the instruments available to society to enhance ethical corporate conduct. It suggests that from society's perspective, we should move away from the notion of corporate social responsibility and toward corporate social accountability. Most modern economies operate under conditions of imperfect competition where corporations gain above-normal profits, i.e., market rent, from market imperfections. Therefore, corporations should be held accountable for a more equitable distribution of these above-normal profits with other groups, e.g., customers, employees, etc., who were deprived of their market-based gains because of market imperfections and corporate power. Three approaches are suggested for measuring corporate accountability through corrections. These are: information imbalance, bargaining power imbalance, and, adjudication, remedy and relief imbalance.     

Systems Perspective on Automobile and Appliance Warranty Problems

Warranties must protect consumers to serve manufacturers, but competition is deficient as a consumer protection. Consumers seeking aid through legislation and litigation have forced government to create new institutions, but consumers can play a still more effective role in holding both government and industry to standards of social accountability.     

SA8000:基于“以人为本”的企业文化再造

以SA8000为代表的企业社会责任运动,随着经济全球化而逐渐波及全球。中国作为基本靠劳动密集型产品出口的贸易大国,受社会责任运动的影响最为明显。SA8000既体现了人文关系又注重对社会的贡献,是社会文明与进步的产物,应该成为人们的学习目标。     

基于环境库兹涅茨曲线的城市群建设与生态环境关系研究——以长株潭为例

采用长株潭地区城市群1990年到2010年的城市化水平以及环境污染指标数据进行分析,由三组计量模型的曲线及其趋势可以看出:长株潭地区城市群建设指标与生态环境指标的演变轨迹符合环境库兹涅茨曲线,均呈倒U型。就总的趋势看,长株潭地区城市群已处于经济增长在促进环境质量的提升阶段。为了更好地促进长株潭地区城市群两型社会建设,应加快产业结构优化升级的步伐;建立和完善生态环境保护机制,实行环境污染问责制度;强化政府职责,形成社会舆论监督氛围,加强生态环境监管。     

The Economic Inefficiency of Secrecy: Pension Fund Investors’ Corporate Transparency Concerns

In the wake of recent corporate scandals, this paper traces the growing power of pension funds to provide managerial oversight of the firms they hold in their investment portfolios. Increasingly pension funds are exercising their legitimate rights as owners to raise the corporate governance standards of the firms they invest in. Within corporate governance generally, pension funds are shifting their attention away from managerial accountability and toward measures that increase transparency in firm-level decision-making. Pension funds use transparency to ensure that shareholders are the primary interest being served by the firm. Transparency not only aligns managers and owners, it also raises issues of firm behaviour that allow other stakeholders to engage the corporation more broadly. I contend that secrecy is economically inefficient. When organizations are opaque and interests are secret, decision-making can and does distort efficiency. I examine recent pension fund corporate governance campaigns with particular reference to the California Public Employees Retirement System. Dr. Hebb is a senior research associate at the Labor and Worklife Program, Harvard University and the Oxford University Centre for the Environment. She is researching the role of US public sector pension funds and urban revitalization as lead investigator on a two-year Rockefeller and Ford Foundation grant. Her doctoral work at Oxford University examined the impact of pension fund corporate engagement on the corporate governance, social and environmental standards of firm behaviour. She was a Clarendon Scholar at Oxford University and was awarded the prestigious William E. Taylor Fellowship (2003) from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Government of Canada. Dr. Hebb is also a recipient of the York University Schulich School of Business National Research in Financial Services and Public Policy Scholarship (Canada). Dr. Hebb is also the Director of the Capital Strategies Program at the Carleton Centre for Community Innovation (3ci), Carleton University, Canada. Here her work focuses on the financial and non-financial impact of pension fund economically targeted investment in Canada as part of a three-year SSHRC Initiatives in the New Economy grant.     

企业社会责任与SA8000认证

企业社会责任和企业伦理是一个问题,国外学者在这方面的研究已走在了前面,他们认识到企业社会责任是公司的一种无形资产,这种无形资产可以为公司带来比较优势。然而,对于我国这一市场化起步较晚,企业参与国际竞争仍处于较低水平的国家而言,社会责任问题还是一个新课题。