Georgios Georgakopoulos

Social reporting, engagements, controversies and conflict in an arena context

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate relationships between engagement activities and social reporting practices in a controversial and environmentally sensitive industry. The interactions investigated were not restricted to stakeholder relationships but included other communications between different stakeholders. Design/methodology/approach - This paper presents a case study approach framed within a contested political arena. Data were gathered using multiple methods including interviews with salmon farming organisations, stakeholders, rule-enforcers, issue amplifiers and political institutions. Findings - All arena participants used social reports in their interactions to communicate the social, environmental and economic consequences of salmon farming. Different social reporting practices appeared to be reflexively related to the competing motivations of different stakeholders. However, social reporting in Scottish salmon farming was fragmented, driven by many different factors and did not necessarily lead to a resolution of the conflicts within this arena. Research limitations/implications - Researching social reporting should consider the co-existence and co-evolution of different social reports, competing motivations and engagement tactics of stakeholders. This paper identifies the construction of holistic reports from multiple reports and issue amplification as two research methods to engage in social and environmental policy debates. Originality/value - This paper presents empirical evidence from an under-researched industry, which has the potential to develop the theoretical understanding of social reporting. It also introduces the arena concept as a useful tool in further social reporting research.

Organic salmon farming: risk perceptions, decision heuristics, and the absence of environmental accounting

Abstract This paper reports on interviews with salmon farmers exploring their decision as to whether to adopt organic production methods. Organic salmon farming has the potential to considerably reduce the social, environmental and economic risks associated with salmon farming. Salmon farming is an industry subjected to intense scrutiny and is highly controversial. The combination of these two factors was expected to reveal the use of environmental accounting in evaluating this potentially difficult, expensive strategic decision, responding to the barrage of public criticism, driven by changing environmental regulations and a potential value shift by key actors.

New development: Managing and accounting for sustainable development across generations in public services—and call for papers

Social and environmental justice across generations is a fundamental attribute of sustainable development. In this article, which is also a call for papers for a future theme in Public Money & Management (PMM), we develop our case for further research on how governments and public service organizations seek to address sustainable development in their decision-making processes. We believe that accounting for social and environmental aspects is an underdeveloped area of research and practice that is worthy of further critical enquiry. We therefore call on researchers and practitioners to submit their research to a themed issue of PMM on managing and accounting for sustainable development in public services.

Board Characteristics' Impact on Accounting Conservatism Before and During the Financial Crisis

This article investigates the extent that board characteristics and board strengths influence the accounting conservatism, estimated by market-based and accrual-based measures, before and duringthefinancialcrisis.Thepercentageofinsidedirectorsandtheadditionaldirectorships(board characteristics)werenegativelyrelatedtomarket-basedconservatism.Thisrelationshipisweakerfor theperiodduringthefinancialcrisiscomparedtotheperiodbeforethecrisis.Thenegativerelationship foundbetweenCEOandchairmanduality andaccrual-basedconservatism isweakerduring the financialcrisisthanbeforethecrisis,whichimpliesthatthefinancialcrisiscanbeconsideredasan importantelementthatleadstofailuresandweaknessesincorporategovernancemechanisms.The resultsholdaftercontrollingforinsidedirectors’ownership,leverage,firmsize,salesgrowth,sales opportunities,profitabilityandlitigationrisk,aswellasforunobservablefirmcharacteristicsthat arestableovertimebyusingfixedeffectsregressions. KeywoRDS Accounting Conservatism, Board Characteristics, Corporate Governance Mechanisms, Financial Crisis

Do Bankers Use Managerial Discretion with Regard to CSR and Earnings Management to Rebuild Their Reputation in the Aftermath of the Financial Crisis

In this paper the authors examine the relationship between CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) performance and earning management in the banking industry from 2008 to 2012 having a specific focus on managerial behaviour and its impact on banks’ reputation. They propose that when managers opportunistically engage in CSR, they will also engage in opportunistic earnings management but if they engage in CSR practices because it is the socially ‘right thing to do’ then earnings will better reflect banks’ true economic performance. Finally, they expect that when bank managers recognize the importance of societal trust they use their discretion to regain trust and to rebuild reputation. Their results show that in general, banks that perform high on CSR indicators behave more transparently with regard to the presentation of earnings. Banks that engage in CSR activities to improve their reputation, use managerial discretion to show socially desirable earnings numbers. For banks that value their reputation, pursuing societal trust is more important than the fulfilling of self-interest. Do Bankers Use Managerial Discretion With Regard to CSR and Earnings Management to Rebuild Their Reputation in the Aftermath of the Financial Crisis?