Social Accounting and Audit

Social Accounting (more strictly
defined as Social Accounting and
Audit) establishes a framework
for ongoing monitoring,
evaluation and accountability to
stakeholders both internal and
external to the organisation.
Social Accounting can help an
organisation to investigate its
performance against social,
environmental and economic
objectives, and ensure that it is
working in accordance with its
values. In the private sector,
social accounting is aligned with
corporate social responsibility.
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Summary
The following are the key
principles of the social
accounting process according to
the Social Audit Network (SAN),
a network providing assistance to
third sector or social economy
organisations throughout the UK
and internationally

According to SAN, social
accounting should be:
• Multi-perspective: encompassing
the views of people and groups
that are important to the
organisation.
• Comprehensive: inclusive of all
activities of an organisation.
• Comparative: able to be viewed
in the light of other organisations
and addressing the same issues
within same organisation over
time.
• Regular: done on an ongoing
basis at regular intervals.
• Verified: checked by people
external to the organisation.
• Disclosed: readily available to
others inside and outside of the
organisation.