Regulating Corporate Social Performance: A New Look at Social Accounting, Auditing, and Reporting

Traditional approaches to regulating corporate behavior have not, and cannot, produce socially responsible corporations. Although many of the problems with these approaches were identified twenty-five years ago by Christopher Stone, an effective regulatory system still has not been implemented. A model of regulation is needed that is flexible enough to accommodate the variety of contexts in which corporations operate, but also makes corporations responsive to the ever-changing societal expectations of proper corporate behavior. To accomplish these goals, a reflexive law regulatory system is needed. Under this approach, corporations should be encouraged to engage in corporate social accounting, auditing, and reporting (SAAR). The development of SAAR standards informed by reflexive law theory will create a regulatory system that is consistent with the latest thinking in business ethics, including Stakeholder Theory and Integrative Social Contracts Theory.