M. Azizul Islam

The Accounting and Accountability Practices of Fairtrade International (FLO)

ABSTRACT This study examines the accounting and accountability practices of Fairtrade International (FLO), one of the largest Fair Trade umbrella organisations. Our aim is to explore whether new forms of accounting and related disclosures emerge in the reporting practices of FLO and how these reflect their self-declared social mission towards the emancipation and sustainability of producers. Using thematic analysis and reflecting on Bourdieu’s theory of symbolic power, we analyse FLO’s reporting practices from 2006 to 2013. Our findings reveal that FLO mobilises the taken-for-granted images and symbols of ‘fairness’ in the Fair Trade system by using descriptive statistics of Fairtrade premium distributions and pictures of producers, but keeps silent to current concerns surrounding the limitations of Fair Trade. Such findings extend important insights into how new forms of accounting and related disclosure are used to legitimise the practice of Fair Trade.

Stakeholder Network and Corporate Legitimacy: An Extended Analysis

The stakeholder network is an important contributing factor in influencing corporations to be socially and ethically accountable. This chapter summarises some of the roles of the stakeholders discussed in the prior chapters with the help of an extended analysis of legitimacy theory. Members of the stakeholder network, in particular, the media and NGOs, are the focus of the discussion. The chapter concludes with a theoretical model derived from stakeholder network and legitimacy theory.