Introduction

The term CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) Reporting has been variously defined and used. It has also been commonly referred to as sustainability reporting, social responsibility accounting ¹ (Mathews, 1984), social accounting (Gray, 2000), and corporate social disclosures (Belal, 2001). Recently, it has been popularised under the acronym of social and ethical accounting, auditing and reporting (SEAAR) (Gonella et al., 1998). Such a terminological variety sometimes causes confusion and requires clarification (Gray, 2000; Mathews, 1984). Therefore, before we proceed towards unfolding the story of CSR reporting in developing countries in general and Bangladesh in particular, it might be useful to define the term here. Simply speaking, it may be defined as the external reporting of social, ethical and environmental aspects of a business organisation. It has been defined by Gray, Owen and Maunders (1987, p. ix) as:

… the process of communicating the social (, ethical) and environmental effects of organisations’ economic actions to particular interest groups within society and to society at large. As such, it involves extending the accountability of organisations (particularly companies), beyond the traditional role of providing a financial account to the owners of capital, in particular, shareholders. Such an extension is predicated upon the assumption that companies do have wider responsibilities than simply to make money for their shareholders.