Corporate social responsibility Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Corporate social responsibility - Essay Example The research using accounting theories in this context will focus on the primary stakeholders without whom the company cannot survive. Studies on secondary stakeholders or non-economic shareholders, that is the ones who affect or influence, affected, or influenced, yet are not involved in transactions with a company are not very significant to its survival. According to research, while a number of stakeholders are interested in the business activities of the CSR, most of the stakeholders view their voluntarily developed reports to have insufficient credibility and generally, they are skeptical of the company’s social responsibility reporting. Given that this is a discussion question, the issue will be looked at from both perspectives of the context. We must first of all look at the different accounting theories and what they suggest about the work of CRS in a company then give a conclusion later. The stakeholder theory for instance extends legality arguments to regard not only society in its entirety but specific stakeholder groups. These stakeholders require various reports and companies will respond to their demands in a number of ways. According to scholars studying this theory, stakeholder management is a driver of corporate social responsibility activities and reports. ... Legitimacy theory is one of these theories and states that reporting serves as a communication mechanism to manipulate and at the same time inform the firm’s actions perceptions (Hodgson et al, 2010. P. 23). Some authors argue that information given by the CSR is founded on a political â€Å"social contract† among those in power, such as the government and the people who grant them that power. Further, reports provided within the social contract for example, involve financial reports meant for shareholders, but it is argued that such reports include relevant information to a broader range of stakeholders (Blackburn et al, 1994, p.201). A big percentage of the research done on CSR and the areas related to it by accounting academics up to the present times have been on how people account for environmental and social activities of companies. However, the big question can be raised to state if such accounting results in any change in organizational behavior, in terms of bei ng sustainable than it was before. Moir, 2001, argues that while this may be a challenging question, there is evidence of change in the responsibilities and routines in the organizations. This is mostly realized in the use of accounting techniques and tools as well as in the use of the accounts types that are produced by organizations. However, he does not stop at this point by stating that even though such changes are evident, deeper degrees of change to rationales and attitudes do not always occur and these organizations do not embrace the sustainability agenda as desired. In this regard therefore, the challenge remains to face business people, accountants, and the society at large to go on striving for attitudinal modifications about CSR if