Business Accountability and Responsibility

Social and environmental sustainability v. financial sustainability

1) How do the concepts of social and environmental sustainability differ from that of financial sustainability, the accountant’s idea of “going concern”?

2) What implications do these differences have for the ways in which a) businesses operate and b) the ways in which they report on their activities?

3) How, if at all, might these differences be reconciled? What are the major obstacles to reconciling the differing views?

4) What might the implications for the future of business be of reconciling these differing views? What might the implications be of not doing so?

Required:

Your answer should draw on at least three theories about attitudes to social, environmental and financial sustainability – both operational and in reporting – across different business models.

Using practical examples taken from the social economy as well as from the corporate world, it should demonstrate an understanding of emerging business models and current arguments about a) the nature and purpose of business and b) the nature and purpose of reporting on business activities.