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Abstract:
Worldwide political and economic changes within the last two decades opened the way to increased globalisation. The existence of multinational organisations, together with their increasing power and influence put a threat on the political and social system.
Against this background the social responsibilities of companies together with their social reporting practice must be re-examined in order to guarantee transparency and equality between all members of society.
The following work compares the social reporting practice of two European countries – Ireland and Germany. As it is not possible to conduct a representative analysis within the limiting framework of this paper, the annual reports of Fyffes and the Douglas Holding AG, issued in the same year (2002), are analysed and compared. Two Interviews were also conducted in order to show additional opinions of the current reporting practice.
To describe social reporting, the underlying idea, which is corporate social responsibility, is presented at first. Different theoretical approaches to the concept of social reporting are introduced, as well as a few operational models. The legal accounting framework of the two countries is also briefly introduced in order to show possible mandatory elements of social reporting within the legal system.
The conclusion of this paper shows that both companies report very little on their corporate social responsibility due to various reasons. Both interviewees support this finding and give additional explanations. As mentioned above, this research is not representative concerning the Irish and German social reporting practice in general and therefore is limited in its conclusions.
Table of Contents:
|
|
List of abbreviations |
iv |
|
List of figures |
vi |
|
List of tables |
vii |
|
Abstract |
1 |
|
Introduction |
2 |
| 1. |
CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY |
4 |
| 1.1 |
Historical Perspective |
4 |
| 1.1.1 |
The Origin |
4 |
| 1.1.2 |
The changing scope of Corporate Responsibilities |
5 |
| 1.1.3 |
The introduction of the term 'Corporate Social Responsibility' |
5 |
| 1.2 |
Definition |
6 |
| 1.2.1 |
Different schools of thought |
6 |
| 1.2.2 |
Carroll's Model of CSR |
7 |
| 1.3 |
Stakeholder Approach |
9 |
| 1.3.1 |
The Business Environment |
9 |
| 1.3.2 |
Framework of Stakeholder Pressure |
10 |
| 1.4 |
Summary |
13 |
| 2. |
SOCIAL REPORTING |
15 |
| 2.1 |
Why Social Reporting? |
15 |
| 2.1.1 |
What does accountability mean? |
15 |
| 2.1.2 |
Limitations of traditional accounting |
16 |
| 2.1.3 |
Justifications for additional disclosures |
17 |
| 2.2 |
Definition of Social Reporting |
22 |
| 2.2.1 |
Systematic corporate social accounts |
22 |
| 2.2.2 |
The internally and externally focussed approach |
23 |
| 2.2.3 |
Principles of a reporting system |
24 |
| 2.3 |
Operational Models of Social Reporting |
26 |
| 2.3.1 |
International reporting and accountability initiatives |
26 |
| 2.3.2 |
European reporting and accountability initiatives |
30 |
| 2.4 |
Summary |
32 |
| 3. |
PRINCIPLES OF IRISH REPORTING |
34 |
| 3.1 |
Legal Regulation |
34 |
| 3.1.1 |
Summary of company law |
34 |
| 3.1.2 |
Summary of Accounting Provisions of Legislation |
36 |
| 3.1.3 |
Additional legislation influencing the content of published accounts |
39 |
| 3.2 |
Irish Accounting Profession |
39 |
| 3.2.1 |
Organisation of the Accounting Profession |
39 |
| 3.2.2 |
Auditing requirements |
39 |
| 3.2.3 |
Audit Reports |
40 |
| 3.3 |
Form and content of published financial statements in Ireland |
41 |
| 3.3.1 |
General overview |
41 |
| 3.3.2 |
Directors' report |
42 |
| 3.4 |
Irish Stock Exchange |
44 |
| 3.5 |
Summary |
45 |
| 4. |
PRINCIPLES OF GERMAN REPORTING |
47 |
| 4.1 |
Legal regulation |
47 |
| 4.1.1 |
General Accounting Rules |
47 |
| 4.1.2 |
The purpose of annual accounts |
50 |
| 4.1.3 |
The German Accounting Standards Committee |
52 |
| 4.1.4 |
Additional Legislation influencing the form and content of published accounts |
53 |
| 4.2 |
Supplementary Reports |
55 |
| 4.2.1 |
The management report |
55 |
| 4.2.2 |
The interim report |
57 |
| 4.2.3 |
The Segment Report |
58 |
| 4.2.4 |
The Cash-flow Statement |
59 |
| 4.3 |
The German Accounting profession |
59 |
| 4.3.1 |
The Wirtschaftsprüfer |
59 |
| 4.3.2 |
Audit of the individual accounts and group accounts |
60 |
| 4.4 |
Summary |
61 |
| 5. |
ANALYSIS OF SOCIAL REPORTING PRACTISES IN IRELAND |
64 |
| 5.1 |
Overview of Fyffes plc |
64 |
| 5.2 |
Analysis of the Annual Report |
65 |
| 5.3 |
Conclusion |
68 |
| 6. |
ANALYSIS OF SOCIAL REPORTING PRACTISES IN GERMANY |
70 |
| 6.1 |
Overview of Douglas Holding AG |
70 |
| 6.2 |
Analysis of the Annual Report |
71 |
| 6.3 |
Conclusion |
73 |
| 7. |
CONCLUSION |
75 |
|
Reference |
78 |
|
Further Reading |
84 |
|
Appendix A |
85 |
|
Appendix B |
89 |