Whither Corporate Social Reporting: Is it Time to Legislate?

Dierkes Meinolf Bauer Raymond A. , eds., Corporate Social Accounting (New York/Washington/London: Praeger, 1973), p. xi.

Anshen Melvin , Corporate Strategies for Social Performance (New York/London: Macmillan, 1980), p. 1.

Although there is a rich body of literature dealing with social accounting and reporting, the terminological ambiguity has not yet been completely resolved. The following definitions will be used in this article: Social reports (Sozialbilanz, bilan social, rendicontosociale, balance social) are efforts to describe for an internal or external audience in a comprehensive scheme as quantitatively as possibly the broad spectrum of social benefits and costs of business behavior in a given period. Social accounting is the process of collecting the relevant nonfinancial information. Social audit is defined as the effort to evaluate companies' social performance against selected standards and/or expectations.

Ackerman Robert W. Bauer Raymond A. , Corporate Social Responsiveness—The Modern Dilemma (Reston, VA: Reston Publishing Company, Inc., 1976), p. 12.

Teubner Gunther , “Corporate Fiduciary Duties and Their Beneficiaries: A Functional Approach to the Legal Institutionalization of Corporate Responsibility,” in Hopt Klaus J. Teubner Gunther , eds., Corporate Governance and Directors' Liabilities—Legal, Economic and Sociological Analyses on Corporate Social Responsibility (Berlin/New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1984), p. 19.

For an overview and discussion of other approaches see Bauer Raymond A. , “The State of the Art of Social Auditing,” in Dierkes Meinolf Bauer Raymond A. , eds., op. cit.; U.S. Department of Commerce, Report of the Task Force on Social Performance, “Corporate Social Reporting in the United States and Western Europe,” Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Commerce, 1979; as well as Preston Lee E. , “Analysing Corporate Social Performance: Methods and Results,” in Midgley Kenneth , ed., Management Accountability and Corporate Governance (London: Macmillan, 1982), pp. 163–182.

U.S. Department of Commerce, 1979, p. 7.

Dierkes Meinolf Hoff Andreas , “Sozialbilanzen und gesellschaftsbezogene Rechnungslegung in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland,” in Hoffman-Nowotny Hans-Joachim , ed., Sozialbilanzierung—Soziale Indikatoren VII (Frankfurt/New York: Campus, 1981).

Wilson Jan H. , “Sociopolitical Forecasting: The General Electric Experience,” in Twiss Brian C. , ed., Social Forecasting for Company Planning (London: Macmillan, 1982), p. 226.

Department of Commerce, 1979, p. 8.

Bauer Raymond A. , “The Corporate Response Process,” in Preston Lee E. , ed., Research in Corporate Social Performance and Policy, Vol. I (Greenwich, CT: JAI Press Inc., 1978), p. 100.

The overall survey of the developments in the U.S. and Western Europe by the Department of Commerce, 1979; specifically, in France by Chevalier Alain , Le Bilan Social de l'Entreprise (Paris/New York/Barcelona/Milan: Masson, 1976); Vogelpoth Norbert , Die franzüsische Sozialbilanz (Frankfurt/M.: Haag & Herder, 1980); Rey Francoise , “Corporate Social Performance and Reporting in France,” in Preston Lee E. , ed., Research in Corporate Social Performance and Policy, Vol. II (Greenwich, CT: JAI Press Inc., 1980); in Italy by Gustavo De Santis and Anna Maria Ventrella, Il Bilancio Sociale dell'Impresa (Milano: Franco Angeli Editore, 1980); in Malaysia by the Malaysian Management Review, 1981; in Latin America by Uniapac, 1980; in the Netherlands by Schreuder H. , “Facts and Speculations on Corporate Social Reporting in France, Germany, and Holland,” Papers submitted to the Social Science Research Council, Study Group on “Social and Political Aspects of Accounting,” Amsterdam: Mimeo, 1978; and in the German-speaking countries by Meinolf Dierkes, “Corporate Social Reporting in Germany: Conceptual Developments and Practical Experience,” 1/2 Accounting Organizations and Society, Vol. IV, (1979); as well as by the same author, “Corporate Social Reporting and Performance in Germany,” in Preston Lee E. , ed., op. cit., (1980). A significant effort to describe the experiences in a single industry, financial institutions, must also be noted: de Bilbao Banco , El Balance Social de la Empresa y las Instituciones Financieras (Madrid: Banco de Bilbao, 1982).

Preston Lee E. , “Analysing Corporate Social Performance: Methods and Results,” in Midgley Kenneth , ed., Management Accountability and Corporate Governance (London: Macmillan, 1982), p. 164.

Toan Arthur B. , “Corporate Social Reporting: Past, Present and Future,” in U.S. Department of Commerce Report of the Task Force on Social Performance, Corporate Social Reporting in the United States and Western Europe (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Commerce, 1979), p. 104.

Department of Commerce, op. cit., (1979), p. 11.

Johnston David C. H. , “The Management and Measurement of Corporate Social Performance,” in U.S. Department of Commerce Report of the Task Force on Social Performance, Corporate Social Reporting in the United States and Western Europe, op. cit., (1979), pp. 117ff.

Dierkes Meinolf Ullmann Arieh , “Sozialenquête: Wird die Offensive blockiert?” 7 Managermagazin, (1979) pp. 15–21.

For detailed analyses of issues covered and indicators used see, e.g., Dierkes Hoff , op. cit., (1981), and Rey , op. cit., (1980).

Johnston , op. cit., (1979), p. 122.

Department of Commerce, op. cit., (1979), p. 32.

Toan , op. cit., (1979), pp. 107–108.

Schredelseker Klaus , “Die franzüsische Sozialbilanz—ein Vorbild für Deutschland?” Paper presented at a workshop on Corporate Social Reporting, Science Center Berlin, October 2–30, 1981, mimeo.

Vogelpoth , op. cit., (1980), p. 248.

For a discussion of the importance of standardization see, e.g., Preston , op. cit., (1982), pp. 166–175.

The Business Roundtable, “The Role and Composition of the Board of Directors of Large Publicly Owned Corporations,” New York, 1978.

See, Wokutch Richard E. , “Ethical Investment Policies and Activities of Catholic Religious Orders,” in Preston Lee E. , ed., Research in Corporate Social Performance and Policy, Vol. 4 (Greenwich, CT: JAI Press Inc., 1982).

For a discussion of the significance of corporate social reporting in collective bargaining in issues of low or no economic growth, when qualitative demands as opposed to quantitative demands may play an increasingly important role in labor negotiations, see the paper presented by Meinolf Dierkes at the workshop on social reporting held at the Science Center Berlin, October 1981; also, the presentation by the same author to the Conference Board on Corporate Governance: Issues for the 1980s, October 1981. The interest in developing social reporting as an information tool for this purpose is confirmed in the two studies by Friedhelm Gehrmann, 1979 and 1981, presented at the workshop on Corporate Social Reporting, Science Center Berlin, October 1981.