Sustainability and Social Responsibility: Regulation and Reporting

This book addresses key issues related to the choice between governments regulating and enforcing society's sustainability and social responsibility objectives, and firms reporting on their sustainable and socially responsible activities so stakeholders can exert pressure on firms to achieve society's goals. While these may be considered as the two endpoints of a continuum, it is clear that there are differing perspectives on the role of governments in sustainability and responsibility.  At one end of this continuum are stakeholders who believe the only way to achieve a sustainable and socially conscious society is to establish and enforce regulations with the concomitant governmental organizations to oversee and enforce those regulations.  At the other end are those who consider firms to be crucial organizations for achieving sustainability and socially responsible outcomes, and who feel it is the responsibility of stakeholders to determine the legitimacy of firms' actions.  It is probably not the case that any economies exist at either end of this continuum, but it is clear that the availability of reliable information is critical for any stakeholder to review the performance of either the governments or the firms.  This book presents a varied set of papers that explore the issues that must be considered, regardless of which position a stakeholder takes.

Dr. Orhan Akışık is senior lecturer in accounting at the Isenberg School of Management. He holds a Ph.D. from the Stuttgart University in Germany. Dr. Akışık teaches financial reporting and cost accounting courses. He previously taught at Boston College, Boston (2001-2012). His research interests include accounting regulation, accounting standards, corporate governance, corporate social responsibility, financial development, foreign investments, economic growth, and earnings management. He has published in academic journals such as Review of Accounting and Finance, Research in Accounting in Emerging Markets, Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, The International Journal of Accounting and Information Management, Journal of Management Control, Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal. He was granted the title ''associate professor in accounting and finance'' by Turkish Higher Education Council in 2006.

William Wooldridge currently acts a

Professor and Managing Director of the Berthiaume Center for Entrepreneurship, Eugene Isenberg School of Management, University of Massachusetts. He received his PhD in Business Administration from the University of Colorado in 1985. He has co-authored 3 books namely the Handbook of Research on the Middle

Graham Gal serves as Associate Professor for the Department of Accounting at the Isenberg School of Management, University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He received his PhD from Michigan State University in 1985. Some of his recent journal articles include 'Financial Performance and Reviews of Corporate Social Responsibility Reports', forthcoming in Journal of Management Control 2014, with Orhan Akisik and 'Internal Audit's Contribution to the Effectiveness of Information Security:' Perceptions of Internal Auditors, ISACA Journal 2014 with Paul Steinbart, Robyn Rasche, and William Dilla.