Social Performance Reporting Practices: A Comparative Study of Selected Index Based Indian and Australian Companies

Abstract

Business is a part of the society. Companies now should not only focus on its financial returns, but should also take utmost care in giving back to the society in which it operates. Every company should be socially responsible and should also broaden its horizons from its stakeholders to general public, at large. It should not only carry on social activities which benefit the public at large, but also report the same in order to create more awareness. Social performance reporting would thus motivate all the companies to expand from within and reach out to the society as a whole. However, there exists a problem of its reporting. How to measure and What to report are another two questions to be answered upon. This paper attempts to clarify what social accounting is all about- mainly focusing on the reporting practices and measurement of the few randomly selected index based Indian and Australian companies. The objective of this study is to measure the quantity and quality aspects of voluntary social performance disclosures in the various reports of the few randomly selected index based Indian and Australian companies. The result may serve a base or the path towards better social performance disclosures.

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Sustainability, Social Accounting, Social Performance, Social Reporting, Global Reporting Initiatives (GRI)

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