Social accounting at
Traidcraft plc
A struggle for the meaning of fair trade
Colin Dey
School of Accounting and Business Finance, University of Dundee, Dundee, UK
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide an account of the development and
implementation of social accounting at the UK fair trade organisation Traidcraft plc.
Design/methodology/approach – Using an ethnographic approach, the paper critically reflects on
the role of this emerging form of accounting in an ongoing intra-organisational struggle for meaning
within Traidcraft over the management of its “fair-trade” business.
Findings – The paper argues that the implementation of a formal system of “social bookkeeping”
largely failed to achieve its intended objective to further augment the organisation’s accountability
relationships with its key stakeholders. However, in the context of organisational change, the
accounting intervention was nevertheless significant, in a quite unexpected (and possibly undesirable)
way. Along with a number of other intra-organisational factors, the intervention produced a decisive,
management-led change within the organisation towards a more commercial interpretation of its
religious principles, which the organisation termed “New Traidcraft”.
Originality/value – The paper contributes to the change/appropriation debate surrounding
corporate social reporting by providing insights into the complex range of political, functional and
social factors that may influence the outcome of social accounting interventions. The paper also
provides evidence to support the argument that social and environmental accounting interventions
can be influential (if not necessarily desirable) when they are aligned with substantive changes in the
organisation itself.
Keywords Social accounting, Ethnography, Fair trade, United kingdom
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
The quantity of corporate social reporting (CSR) in the last decade, particularly from
multi-national corporations, has increased substantially. At the same time, however,
empirical reviews of recent disclosures have concluded that CSR frequently exhibits,
inter alia, major shortcomings in: the completeness and reliability of its substantive
content (Belal, 2002; Adams, 2004); the basis of (or absence of) its assurance statements
(Swift and Dando, 2002; Owen and O’Dwyer, 2005); and the control and manipulation
of its stakeholder “dialogue” processes (Owen et al., 2001; Unerman and Bennett, 2004;
Thomson and Bebbington, 2005). These reviews share a concern with the
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0951-3574.htm
The author acknowledges the support of the Economic and Social Research Council and the
Carnegie Trust for helping to fund the research this paper draws on. The author also wishes to
thank Rob Gray, David Power, Brendan O’Dwyer, Ian Thomson, Sonja Gallhofer, participants at
the 2004 APIRA conference in Singapore, the guest editors of this special issue and two
anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments. Special thanks to all the staff (past and
present) at Traidcraft plc.
Social
accounting at
Traidcraft plc
423
Received December 2005
Revised September 2006,
January 2007,
February 2007
Accepted February 2007
Accounting, Auditing &
Accountability Journal
Vol. 20 No. 3, 2007
pp. 423-445
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0951-3574
DOI 10.1108/09513570710748571