Corporate Social Responsibility

Essay by jonesdwUniversity, Bachelor'sB-, May 2012

download word file, 12 pages 0.0

Consider the above. Discuss the stance and initiatives of the Australian accounting profession on corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability. Include your views on the role of accounting and the accountant on CSR and sustainability.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been defined by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development as "the continuing commitment by companies to behave ethically and to contribute to economic development, while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families, as well as the local community and society at large." (Kemp, Thwaites and Smith,2003)

CSR is also defined as "involves organisations taking into account the social and environmental impact of corporate activity when making decisions." (Langfield-Smith, 2009)

When and why did it come about?

There has never been a clear consensus or guidelines of what CSR is and what guidelines Management Accountants need to follow. It is interesting that the President of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) Graham Ward in his Foreword on behalf of IFAC's "International Guidance Document on Environmental Management Accounting" (August 2005) states:-

This document is neither a standard with definedrequirements, nor a descriptive practitioner or research report. It is not intended to be a standardthat IFAC member Bodies are expected to follow or adopt as a part of their responsibilities underIFAC's Statement of Membership Obligations (SMOs). It is intended to be a guidance document that falls into the middle ground between regulatory requirements, standards and pureinformation. As such, its goal is to reduce some of the international confusion on this important topic by providing a general framework and set of definitions for EMA that is fairly comprehensive and as consistent as possible with other existing, widely used environmental accounting frameworks with which EMA must coexist.

The role of the accountant and bodies such as CPA and ICAA...