The Organizational and Operational Boundaries of Triple Bottom Line Reporting: A Survey |
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Authors: | Pablo Archel Manuel Fernández Carlos Larrinaga |
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Institution: | (1) Departamento de Gestión de Empresas, Universidad Pública de Navarra, Campus de Arrosadía s/n, 31006 Pamplona, Spain;(2) Departamento de Economía y Administración de Empresas, Universidad de Burgos, Plaza Infanta Elena s/n, 09001 Burgos, Spain |
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Abstract: | This article responds to Gray’s (2002) call for normative research on social and environmental accounting (SEA) and Parker’s (2005) call for active engagement in the process of designing SEA systems. More specifically, our investigation focuses on the
study of boundary setting for triple bottom line (TBL) reporting, an issue that has been given more attention by practitioners
than by researchers. The study reviews the consequences of boundary setting for the discharge of organizational accountability,
from which it develops a framework to investigate TBL reporting boundaries and then reports on an empirical survey of best
practice. It concludes that organizations are strategically setting and disclosing their boundaries instead of discharging
their accountability and argues that such strategies have far-reaching consequences, because reporting boundaries are not
only reflective of organizations but also have a constitutive role in their definition. A further consequence is that it calls
into question the use of voluntary labeling, such as “in accordance” with Global Reporting Initiative; one implication being
that further research into technical developments in TBL reporting could contribute to the discharge of organizational accountability. |
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Keywords: | Triple bottom line reporting Sustainability reporting Boundary setting Social and environmental accounting Global Reporting Initiative |
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