ACCT1046 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Business Live, Global Reporting Initiative
Topic 2 Module 3
The why/who/what/how?
1. Why report social and environmental information?
As we have emphasised, there are various aspects of organisational performance which might
broadly be considered to be financial (or economic), social, and environmental.
Financial reporting, as covered in the previous Module, generally does not provide insights into the
social and environmental performance of an organisation. So we need alternative frameworks.
2. To whom are we reporting?
From the above we can see that there are many different stakeholders who might have an interest
i a ogaisatios soial ad eioetal pefoae – managers, investors, employees,
employee unions, customers, government, news media, social and environmental groups, and so on.
Some fo of stakeholde appig eeise ould e euied. Maages eed to ake
judgements about to whom they owe a responsibility/accountability to and whether it includes both
those stakeholders who can impact the organisation (those with power) as well as those that are
impacted by the organisation.
3. What are we reporting?
Because organisations can have a multitude of various social and environmental impacts, some
prioritisation needs to be given to identifying, managing, and reporting specific aspects of the
ogaisatios soial ad eioetal pefoae. Muh of the ifoatio eig epoted ill
be influenced by the responsibilities and accountabilities that are accepted by managers.
Stakeholder engagement exercises will also identify some information that stakeholders
need/expect.
4. How/where are we reporting?
This form of reporting is largely voluntary and therefore there is much variation in reporting by
those organisations that elect to publicly report. There are a number of reporting frameworks (most
notably, that of the Global Reporting Initiative) available to use and the reporting is typically made
available on organisational websites.
Accountability
As we learned in earlier Modules:
• An organisation’s perspective about its accountability will directly impact on what
information (accounts) it provides.
• If an organisation considers it only has a responsibility for its financial performance, then it
will tend to fixate on financial accounts/financial accounting.
• By contrast, if an organisation believes it has an accountability for its social and
environmental performance, then it will provide social and environmental accounts/reports
as well.
A return to our definition of ‘accountability’ would be useful at this point:
Accountability involves two responsibilities or duties, these being:
1. The responsibility to undertake certain actions (or to refrain from taking actions).
2. The responsibility to provide an account of those actions.
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Document Summary
As we have emphasised, there are various aspects of organisational performance which might broadly be considered to be financial (or economic), social, and environmental. Financial reporting, as covered in the previous module, generally does not provide insights into the social and environmental performance of an organisation. Some fo(cid:396)(cid:373) of (cid:858)stakeholde(cid:396) (cid:373)appi(cid:374)g(cid:859) e(cid:454)e(cid:396)(cid:272)ise (cid:449)ould (cid:271)e (cid:396)e(cid:395)ui(cid:396)ed. This form of reporting is largely voluntary and therefore there is much variation in reporting by those organisations that elect to publicly report. There are a number of reporting frameworks (most notably, that of the global reporting initiative) available to use and the reporting is typically made available on organisational websites. A return to our definition of accountability" would be useful at this point: Accountability involves two responsibilities or duties, these being: the responsibility to undertake certain actions (or to refrain from taking actions), the responsibility to provide an account of those actions.
