Social impact reporting in the public interest: the case of accounting standardisation
Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management
ISSN: 1176-6093
Article publication date: 4 December 2020
Issue publication date: 1 September 2021
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the extent to which accounting standards for social impact reporting are in the public interest. This study aims to explore what the public interest means for social impact reporting by charities; and assess the extent to which the accounting standardisation of social impact reporting supports the public interest so defined.
Design/methodology/approach
This study conducts a case study of how stakeholders in Australian charities conceptualise the public interest when discussing accounting standardisation. This paper distinguishes three concepts of the public interest from prior research, namely, aggregative, processual and common good. For each, this paper analyses the implications for accounting and how accountants serve the public interest, and how they align with stakeholder views.
Findings
Stakeholder views align with the aggregative and processual concepts of public interest, however this was contested and partial. Accounting standards for social impact reporting will only serve the public interest if they also capture and implement the common good approach.
Practical implications
Clarifying how key stakeholders interpret the public interest can help standard-setters and governments design (or withhold) accounting standards on social impact reporting. This paper also distinguishes different practical roles for accountants in this domain – information merchants, umpires or advocates, which each public interest concept implies.
Originality/value
This paper extends prior research on accounting for the public interest to social impact reporting. The paper empirically demonstrates the salience of the common good concept of public interest and demonstrates the diversity of views on the standardisation of social impact reporting by charities.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Funding for the data collection for this project came from the Centre for Social Impact, University of New South Wales.
The authors thank the editors of the special issue and our anonymous reviewers for their comments to help us improve this paper. They also thank the interviewees who contributed their time to the study.
Citation
Adams, S., Tweedie, D. and Muir, K. (2021), "Social impact reporting in the public interest: the case of accounting standardisation", Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management, Vol. 18 No. 3, pp. 390-416. https://doi.org/10.1108/QRAM-02-2019-0026
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited