ABSTRACT
The corporate accountability challenge is greatest in two areas: first, in social and ethical accounting and reporting; and, second, in the integration of the three different streams of information into management accounts and decision-making. Corporate social accountability and reporting is becoming increasingly relevant for business. This chapter reviews the wide spectrum of work under way in this area, and its relationship to environmental accountability and reporting. It is based on Sustain Ability's published Social Reporting Report, which was produced in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme and Royal Dutch/Shell Group Even though many of the reporting companies had signed sustainable development charters such as that launched by the International Chamber of Commerce in 1991, they saw the challenge as environmental performance and reporting. This approach was challenged in the mid-1990s by the introduction of the concept of the 'triple bottom line' of sustainable development.
