Financial Reporting and Ethics - The Institute of Chartered ...

12SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTALISSUES IN ETHICS12.0 LEARNING OBJECTIVESAfter studying this chapter, readers will be able to:! Explain the concept of social responsibilities and environment;! Describe social and environmental accounting issues;! Evaluate measurement and accountabilities in social and environmental reporting;! Explore developments in social and environmental frameworks;! Evaluate the threats of social costs and liabilities; and! Explain cases of social and environmental failures.12.1 INTRODUCTIONCorporate social responsibility which is also known as Corporate Citizenship,Corporate Responsibility or Corporate Social Performance, is a form of corporateself-regulation which is integrated into a business model. Corporate socialresponsibility tends to operate as a built-in, self-regulating mechanism underwhich a business will monitor and ensure its compliance with law, internationalnorms and ethical prescriptions. A business or company assumes responsibilityfor the impact of its activities on the environment, employees, consumers,communities and other members of the public. In addition, a business has toproactively promote the interest of the public through voluntarily avoidingactivities which are harmful, regardless of legality.12.2 THE CONCEPT OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITYThe Concepts of Corporate Social Responsibility and Business Ethics aresometimes used interchangeably. This is based on the belief that, the problemsand issues in business ethics can be summed up in the challenge of beingsocially or morally responsible, both as a corporate organisation and as anindividual in an organisation.245