The Outline and Concept of Ethical, Social and Environmental Accounting.
Introduction
It was not until recently that accounting and reporting acquired 3 new aspects to it, organisations are now being expected to be embracing Corporate Social Responsibility. This entails social and environmental reporting as well as having a well formulated code of ethics. In this essay I will be exploring the concepts, benefits, and drawbacks of Ethical, Social, and Environmental Accounting and Reporting.
Definitions
Ethical accounting and reporting
Ethics can be described as the method in which individuals use to decide what is good or bad; it can also be used to describe a set of moral principles or values. (Carroll and Buchholtz, 2002). A mixture good personal judgement; moral principles and values are how majority of individuals live their daily life. Ethical accounting and reporting refers to accounting but with these principles and values applied to ensure that the work is honest and to a good standard. Nowadays, it has become almost compulsory for businesses to have their own code of ethics which each employee is expected to comply with, usually the code of ethics given by organisations coincide with or in most cases don’t oppose the individuals personal morals and principles.
Social accounting and reporting, “...the process of communicating the social and environmental effects of organisations economic actions to particular interest groups and society at large.”(Gray et al, 1987). Rob Gray describes social accounting as all of the aspects of a business that aren’t directly profitable or to directly involved in production
Environmental accounting and reporting “...covering all areas of accounting that may be affected by the business response to environmental issues....” (Gray and Bebbington, 2001).
“Green accounting measures the effect of human activity on the earth’s ecological systems and resources and just the financial effects of such activity” (Greenham, 2010)
Explanation of Concepts –
Ethical accounting and reporting
There
It was not until recently that accounting and reporting acquired 3 new aspects to it, organisations are now being expected to be embracing Corporate Social Responsibility. This entails social and environmental reporting as well as having a well formulated code of ethics. In this essay I will be exploring the concepts, benefits, and drawbacks of Ethical, Social, and Environmental Accounting and Reporting.
Definitions
Ethical accounting and reporting
Ethics can be described as the method in which individuals use to decide what is good or bad; it can also be used to describe a set of moral principles or values. (Carroll and Buchholtz, 2002). A mixture good personal judgement; moral principles and values are how majority of individuals live their daily life. Ethical accounting and reporting refers to accounting but with these principles and values applied to ensure that the work is honest and to a good standard. Nowadays, it has become almost compulsory for businesses to have their own code of ethics which each employee is expected to comply with, usually the code of ethics given by organisations coincide with or in most cases don’t oppose the individuals personal morals and principles.
Social accounting and reporting, “...the process of communicating the social and environmental effects of organisations economic actions to particular interest groups and society at large.”(Gray et al, 1987). Rob Gray describes social accounting as all of the aspects of a business that aren’t directly profitable or to directly involved in production
Environmental accounting and reporting “...covering all areas of accounting that may be affected by the business response to environmental issues....” (Gray and Bebbington, 2001).
“Green accounting measures the effect of human activity on the earth’s ecological systems and resources and just the financial effects of such activity” (Greenham, 2010)
Explanation of Concepts –
Ethical accounting and reporting
There
Bibliography: Carroll, B. A. & Buchholtz, K. A. (2000)”Business and Society, Ethics and Stakeholder Management”, 4th Edition, Cincinnati, South-Western College Publishing Grey, R Gray, R., Owen, D. and Adams, C. (1996), Accounting and Accountability: Change and Challenges in Corporate Social and Environmental Reporting, Prentice Hall, London. Elliot, B. and Elliot, J (2002), “Financial Accounting and Reporting”, International Edition,. London: Financial Times, Prentice Hall Patrick, E Bennett, M. and James, P. (1998) “The Green Bottom Line”, Sheffield: Greenleaf Publishing Ltd, Elliot, B