A2 RESEARCH PROJECT

Developing Research Proposal

Submitted to: Professor Zahidul Hasan

Submitted by: Pranish Tiwari(190479)
Contents
1. Introduction........................................................................................................................... 1
1.1. General Introduction......................................................................................................1
1.2. Research Question........................................................................................................1
1.3. Aim................................................................................................................................ 1
1.4. Objectives...................................................................................................................... 1
2. Literature Review and Hypothesis........................................................................................2
3. Research Framework...........................................................................................................3
3.1. Theoretical Framework..................................................................................................4
3.2. Methodological Framework............................................................................................5
4. References........................................................................................................................... 6
Bibliography................................................................................................................................. 6
 1. Introduction
1.1. General Introduction
The term social accounting deals with the social and environmental impact of the organization
as well as to determine the accountability of an organization. The research is conducted to find
out whether ASX listed Australian companies follow social accounting or not with the
comparison between different companies with the data and documents provided by the
companies.

1.2. Research Question

 Do Australian companies follow social accounting?

1.3. Aim
The main aim of the project is to determine whether different ASX listed Australian companies
follow social accounting of not. Social accounting also being an important part for any
companies for following social practices. For this research, comparison between different ASX
listed companies in Australia will be evaluated through their reports and papers to find out
whether the companies have social accounting in their business practices. This would be the
main aim of the report.

1.4. Objectives
The main objective of this research is to find out how companies use social accounting practices
along side their business practices. This is because not all companies follow this accounting as
it does not contribute the monetary side of the company and if any company use this method,
the procedures and the methodology of the process.

Another important objective of this research is to understand about social accounting and the
importance it is to any company following this method. Understanding the topic “Social
Accounting” is very important for upcoming and small-scale industries so it would be fruit for the
company to understand the term and its impact on the company beforehand.

The final objective of this research is to make a comparison between companies and
understand what impact social accounting makes. Comparison between different ASX listed
company and it data will be used to determine whether the company follow social accounting or
not.

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 2. Literature Review and Hypothesis
Business does not entirely define profit and loss or cashflow, it also consists of non-profit works
such as environmental and social contribution. The term social accounting is also a key feature
for any companies to have a positive aspect from public’s perspective (accounting tools, 2022).
Then the question arises “Is social accounting necessary?”, as the company mainly focuses on
the point of increasing profit and mitigating the loss which also somewhat contributes to the
society by helping to boost up the economy and the company can perform these measures if it
stays within the social and environmental aspects. As long as the company engages the public
and the shareholders into private profits, the public interest also increases so the opportunity of
increasing public interest and will also be a downfall disaster if everything goes opposite (Jose
Luis Retolaza, 2021).

The graph from above represents companies following social accounting from 2011 to 2018
where every year about only the half of total companies follow social and sustainable growth
along side business growth. As a trend, it is growing year by year which can contribute to their
reputation to the public eyes. This is to prove that the company within the social economic
sector that it plays a vital role for the society while on the other hand, it exposes the indications
of the company to introduce those into their management (Larraitz Lazkano, 2019).

Social accounting consists of both the internal as well as the external impacts for the company
which can be money related or any other relation with the company. From an earlier study
showed that integrating social practices in the decision-making process where there are enough

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knowledge to develop a framework suitable for working with social accounting. Various models
have been used to measure the social performance of a company. Dierkes and Antal (1986)
have mentioned the model named inventory reporting model, goal and accounting reporting
model and the social indicator model, Maas and Liket’s review of 30 contemporary social
measurements methods indicated that only eight of them contributed towards the measurement
of the social impacts done by the company (Stevenson, 2014).

From the guide report from the University of Newcastle, Australia, it provides different reason
why a small companies will find it hard to contribute towards the social accounting. It
recommends that a company should start in a small number for their contribution for the social
accounting. This is because a small organization might lack the budget or time to perform this
work as well as more staff are required to help grow this side of the business which then leads
to the funding part of the company which it cannot afford to. The company might need to hire a
social accountant that ca focusses solely on the presented matter leaving the business side
which can bring some results for the company to expand into the bigger leagues. These might
be some of the reason that small industries and business do not give priority to social
accounting and maintain a sustainability inside the company and attract less attention to the
negative impact on the company (Cameron, et al., 2010).

3. Research Framework
Different research framework can be used to collect information and process it. This is the
reason for using a research framework so that the information can be understood easily and in a
detailed manner. Some of the frameworks used in the current real world case scenarios are
described below:

3.1. Theoretical Framework

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In the case of financial and accounting sector, theoretical framework deals with the theories,
methods, assumptions which are used in the study of accounts related to financial institutes. It
mainly focuses on the history and accounting practices in any running organizations along with
the changes that are brought by the financial authorities (toppr, 2022).

Figure 1: Theoretical framework

For this instance, theoretical framework would be an important method of extracting out the idea
and information. From the figure 2, we can see that the organization and environment (social
accounting) go side by side to output an accounting system which affects the decision making of
the company which then directly affects the organization in an positive or in a negative way. So,
to determine what the company might receive, theoretical framework works in a way to avoid
that by outputting the decision making of a company in a framework.

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 3.2. Methodological Framework
Methodological framework is simply a foundation for building up any information for specific
case or report. These are structured principals that works one method after another to have a
better workflow and detailed process of information (IGI Global, 2022).

Figure 2: Methodological Framework

Using methodological framework in this instance is a normal way of putting the different
methods and decision of the company in a visual way. For using this in social accounting,
different methods can be used to scale out the decisions that can be made for the organization.
From the figure too we cans observe that different steps are carried out where it moves to
another step only after completion of the previous step otherwise this method cannot be taken
into place. This will create 100% working efficiency for the methods used and can determine the
final output in a fixed date or time period as the work is being completed time after time without
going back to pervious steps.

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 4. References
Bibliography
accounting tools, 2022. social accounting definition. Accounting tools , 06 February.
Cameron, J., Gardner, C. & Veenhuyzen, J., 2010. Social Accounting:A Practical Guide for
Small Community Organisations and Enterprise, Newcastle: The University of Newcastle.
Coursehero, 2022. The accounting concept. [Online]
Available at: https://www.coursehero.com/study-guides/boundless-accounting/the-accounting-
concept/#:~:text=A%20conceptual%20framework%20can%20be,financial%20accounting
%20and%20financial%20statements.
[Accessed 18 May 2022].
IGI Global, 2022. What is Methodological Framework. [Online]
Available at: https://www.igi-global.com/dictionary/methodological-framework/18485
[Accessed 20 May 2022].
Jose Luis Retolaza, L. S.-J., 2021. Understanding Social Accounting based on Evidence, New
York: Sage.
Larraitz Lazkano, A. B., 2019. Social Accounting for Sustainability: A Study in the Social
Economic. MDPI, 2 December.
Stevenson, S., 2014. The legitimacy of social accounting:A case study of SME managers’
attitudes and actions, Uppsala, Sweden: Uppsala University.
toppr, 2022. Theoritical Framework of Accounting. [Online]
Available at: https://www.toppr.com/guides/accounting-and-auditing/theoretical-framework-of-
accounting/
[Accessed 18 May 2022].