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Corporate social responsibility reporting in professional accounting firms

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  • Duff, Angus

Abstract

This paper examines the corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting undertaken by the 20 largest professional accounting firms in the United Kingdom. Professional service firms are knowledge-intensive organisations, eager to communicate their legitimacy, status and reputation, to an external world. These social evaluations (prestige) allow them to enhance their intellectual capital and consequently charge premium fees and, effectively increasing partner wealth. This investigation undertakes a content analysis of firms' annual reviews, corporate social responsibility reports, websites, and recruitment literature.

Suggested Citation

  • Duff, Angus, 2016. "Corporate social responsibility reporting in professional accounting firms," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 74-86.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:bracre:v:48:y:2016:i:1:p:74-86
    DOI: 10.1016/j.bar.2014.10.010
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    2. Tatiana Garanina & Henri Hussinki & Johannes Dumay, 2021. "Accounting for intangibles and intellectual capital: a literature review from 2000 to 2020," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(4), pages 5111-5140, December.
    3. Yubin Qian & Ya Sun, 2021. "The Correlation Between Annual Reports’ Narratives and Business Performance: A Retrospective Analysis," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(3), pages 21582440211, July.
    4. Sohanur Rahman & Tehmina Khan & Pavithra Siriwardhane, 2019. "Sustainable development carbon pricing initiative and voluntary environmental disclosures quality," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(6), pages 1072-1082, September.
    5. Rayenda Khresna Brahmana & Doddy Setiawan & Maria Kontesa, 2022. "The blame game: COVID-19 crisis and financial performance," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 2(11), pages 1-20, November.
    6. McLaughlin, Craig & Elamer, Ahmed A. & Glen, Thomas & AlHares, Aws & Gaber, Hazem Rasheed, 2019. "Accounting society's acceptability of carbon taxes: Expectations and reality," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 302-311.
    7. Charlie Lindgren & Asif M. Huq & Kenneth Carling, 2021. "Who Are the Intended Users of CSR Reports? Insights from a Data-Driven Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-20, January.
    8. Supriyati & Gunasti Hudiwinarsih, 2020. "The Importance of Corporate Social Responsibility in Improving Corporate Value: Case Study of Public Companies in Indonesia," International Journal of Finance & Banking Studies, Center for the Strategic Studies in Business and Finance, vol. 9(3), pages 121-130, July.
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    10. Duff, Angus, 2017. "Corporate social responsibility as a legitimacy maintenance strategy in the professional accountancy firm," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(6), pages 513-531.
    11. Tayebeh Zargar & Steven Rynne, 2023. "The Corporate Social Responsibility Sport Model: Grounded Theory Approach," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(4), pages 21582440231, October.

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