Corporate Social Responsibility for Finance

The topic of the corporation’s place in society has been debated over several decades but there has been a noticeable increase in the attention paid to it recently. In particular, there has been a focus on how enterprises align their economic considerations with social and environmental ones. Various terms have been used but Corporate Social Responsibility seems to be the favourite.

Corporate Social Responsibility looks at the wider responsibilities of businesses to society at large. It explores the problems brought about by damage to the physical environment (pollution and degradation and resources) and the risks and opportunities they engender for individual enterprises. The course looks at the increasing amount of regulation and guidance, such as on diversity and fair trade, and outlines the vital role that the finance function can play.

Corporate Social Responsibility is part of our Issues and Debates suite of learning. Issues and Debates courses stimulate intelligent dialogue and debate and provide a valuable and evolving resource of professional knowledge and experience. These courses are topical, practical and highly relevant to today’s changing market. Each module is split into two activities: Understanding the issues and Putting it into practice. The first encourages learners to think about a topic, drawing on their own professional experience and knowledge. The second helps them put ideas and/or theories into practice as part of their day-to-day work.

• Identify the reasons behind the growing interest in Corporate Social Responsibility
• Understand the current thinking on the environmental and social responsibilities of business
• Understand how concepts of fairness and equality affect Corporate Social Responsibility
• Understand the processes required for risk management to be put in place
• Develop an understanding of a corporation’s place in the community

The Context
• Introduction
• The global scene
• Stakeholders
• Overarching guidance

The environment 
• Fairness
• A complex problem
• Climate change
• Sustainability

People
• Shared values
• High pay
• Diversity
• Community

Finance
• Fair trade
• Capitalism
• Long termism
• Epilogue

This course is designed to appeal to people working in the accounting and finance industry at all levels.

David Allen, is a past president of CIMA and a past chairman of the Management Accounting Committee of the International Federation of Accountants. He was employed for many years by Cadbury Schweppes group holding directorships with various subsidiary companies, notably Cadbury Ltd.