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3.	Social Auditing
	In the past, auditors measured financial success. Then they began preparing environmental audits. Now, they're also measuring social and ethical success, using an array of tools with names like social audits, social accounts and social performance reports. The move seems to be part of a subtle global shift away from traditional measures of economic efficiency to broader, more socially aware measures of SD (see DI # 1) – and, in accounting circles, away from stockholder to stakeholder reporting. The latter is broader and includes environmental and social assessments in addition to the standard financial ones. We count three main approaches in this fast-evolving field: (1) Ethical accounting statements, which emphasize the broad participation of all stakeholders and gradual improvement over time, but which suffer from a lack of external verification and general comparability. The approach was developed by the Copenhagen Business School and first applied by Denmark's Sbn Bank. Now some 50 organizations in Scandinavia produce the statements. (2) External benchmarks or scorecards, which are strong on comparability and external verification but weaker on participation and general comprehensiveness. Spearheaded by the Council for Economic Priorities in the US and by New Consumer and other groups in the UK, the benchmarking approach produces quick and cost-effective snapshots of organizational performance. (3) Social auditing, which builds on both these approaches, provides a strong (if somewhat laborious) social assessment package. The approach has been popularized by the London–based New Economics Foundation and the annual reports of the British company Traidcraft. Other companies now supporting the trend include the Body Shop, Happy Computers and SharedEarth.[new accounting for social sustainability]
	stockholder or Shareholder reporting n.a report to stockholders on a company's financial performance stakeholder reporting n.a report to all stakeholders, both stockholders and others, on an organization's performance including environmental and social aspects
	New Economics FoundationSocial Auditing for Small Organisations: the Workbook. London: New Economics Foundation, 1996. 1v. in various pagings Elkington, John et al.Engaging Stakeholders. Paris: United Nations Environment Programme, 1996. 2v.
	Social Auditing in South Africa: Lessons for NGOs Worldwide Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) often moralize about what others should do, so it's always refreshing when they themselves set a good example. This is very much the case with South Africa's Development Resources Centre, which is using social auditing to bring new accountability, transparency and efficiency to its activities. The South-African voluntary sector is re-inventing itself in the aftermath of apartheid and turning to internal organizational improvements where its efforts were once focused externally on oppression. While some Northern NGOs like the New Economics Foundation are also practicing social auditing, it appears many more might benefit from following the South African lead.
Virtual Ideas	New Economics Foundation looks at social auditing http://sosig.ac.uk/NewEconomics/audit.html