Editorial Notes Research in Social and Environmental Accounting: Future Directions

Volume 4 Issue 1 of Issues in Social andEnvironmental Accounting (Issues inSEA) heralds social and environmentalresponsibility articles from afar as Japan,Indonesia, Malaysia and Canada, suggesting,one way or another, the journalitself is becoming known around thetraps as a southern hemisphere forum forsocial and environmental accounting.This is a useful thing as commentary onthese issues seems to be cornered by atight circle of self-referential northernhemisphere (and satellite New Zealand/Eastern Australian old-guard) academics.To sustain and ratchet-up this interest,the SEA editorial board needs tothink over the journal’s future directionsbased on its current strengths.Although it defines itself as an internationaljournal, Issues in SEA might considerdrawing more submissions from itsbackyard. Social and environmental accountingissues are, of course, critical inNew Guinea, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, andSumatra, and Issues in SEA’s uniqueeditorial personnel and communicationprocesses have the potential to beef upvoices from those local communities.This is a worthy consideration becausethe key commercial players on theseislands are loggers, farmers and minerswho treat forests, air and rain as nonpriced/non-costed free goods but at thesame time can legitimise their activitiesthrough annual reports, stand-alone sustainabilityreports, stand-alone corporatesocial responsibility reports, stand-aloneenvironmental reports, online reportsand accommodating national broadsheets.Locals – traditional foresters,local government authorities and subsistentvillagers - need an outlet like Issuesin SEA to explain the social and environmentalaccounting consequences of livingwith these commercial interlopers.Pacific Accounting Review is a usefulmodel to follow in terms of gatheringnew voices. In a recent special editionentitled Pacific Odyssey: views of accountingin the South Seas from the centreand from the periphery, the guesteditors Dixon and Gaffikin were able tosecure high quality insights of contextualPacific accounting that put at oddssome of the more celebrated peripheralviewpoints. It is unclear how much timeand effort was expended by referees andeditorial board members on this exercise,but to test the water Issues in SEAmight consider a special edition of viewsof accounting from the centre of theSunda and Sahul Shelves.In this context, there appears to be roomfor activism. It is not enough for Indonesiansto be passive recipients of internationalaccounting cargo. The paucity ofwork done by international accountingbodies on the possibilities of oral accountingin non-literate regions could be addressed by Issues in SEA by gatheringviewpoints from non-literate contributorsthrough, for example, actionresearchtranscription of mother-tonguedcommentaries. Such narratives of themarginalised would not only give Issuesin SEA a pull in local language audiencebut also, more importantly, open up adiscourse of social and environmentalissues that might pave the way for improvedmethods of oral accounting.But perhaps a key long-term direction ofIssues in SEA is to use its available localintellectual and human capital resourcesto help boost its contributions of‘professional’ papers. There is a lot ofpuff given on online reporting andsearch engines and how readership canmultiply through improved digital technologies.Yet most of the world’s citizensdon’t have internet access. Issues inSEA may do well by sticking to traditionalprint and distributing articles to arising literate ‘professional’ readershipthat is not necessarily in a position toenjoy fruits of the internet but is eager togather accessible scholarship about local,regional and international social andenvironmental accounting issues.Copyright © www.iiste.or

A Commentary on CSR

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)is lauded by well-intentioned CSR interestgroups1 but has been mocked by bigcorporations such as British AmericanTobacco, Coca-Cola and Shell wherebad business behaviour persists despiteassurances of best CSR practices(Amnesty International, 2007; ChristianAid, 2004; Other Shell Report, 2003).The sites of Amnesty International(Amnesty International, 2007), CatholicAgency for Overseas Development(CAFOD, 2007), Centre for CorporateAccountability (CCA, 2007), ChristianAid (2004), Corporate Responsibility(Core Responsibility, 2007), CorporateWatch (2006), Environmental JusticeFoundation (EJF, 2005), Friends of theEarth (FOE, 2007), Global Witness(Global Witness, 2004; 2006), GreenAlliance (Green Alliance, 2007), Greenpeace(Greenpeace, 2002a; 2002b; 2004;2006), IFAW (IFAW, 1999) and InternationalAlert (International Alert, 2005)are awash with the recent failings ofCSR and the way companies, individuallyand collectively, use and abuse CSRto further company ends.More content can be found in the PDF file.Copyright © www.iiste.or

Stress-induced nuclear accumulation is dispensable for Hog1-dependent gene expression and virulence in a fungal pathogen

The authors thank E. Veal for intellectual input. This work was funded by the UK Biotechnology and Biological Research Council [J.Q. BB/K016393/1; A.J.P.B. BB/K017365/1], the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs) [D.M.M. NC/N002482/1] and the Wellcome Trust Strategic Award in Medical Mycology and Fungal Immunology [097377]). D.M.M. and A.J.P.B. are also supported by the MRC Centre for Medical Mycology at the University of Aberdeen (MR/N006364/1).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Analysing GCN4 Translational Control in Yeast by Stochastic Chemical Kinetics Modelling and Simulation

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Early-expressed chemokines predict kidney immunopathology in experimental disseminated Candida albicans infections

Available under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CCAL)Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Varying the Quality of Business Communication Caused by Compliance of Different Accounting Rules

This study examines the extent of Indonesian companies’ compliance with the Indonesian accountingregulations (IARC) of inventory, fixed assets, and depreciation by analyzing 160 Indonesianlisted companies’ 2006 annual reports. This study also looks at potential factors thatexplain the level of this compliance. Analysis reveals a high level of 71.63% inventory compliance,51.13% fixed assets compliance, and 99.69% depreciation compliance with accountingrules. T-test and regression analysis show that firm size is a significant predictor of accountingcompliance. Importantly, ownership and governance structures do not influence the level ofcompliance. Although Indonesian firms complied with more than 50% of the key accountingrule provisions, regulatory intervention appears needed to improve compliance. Such regulationmight include sanctions as promulgated by multilateral financial organizations (World Bank2005). Copyright © www.iiste.or

Sfp1 and Rtg3 reciprocally modulate carbon source-conditional stress adaptation in the pathogenic yeast Candida albicans

Acknowledgements We thank Aaron Mitchell, Dominique Sanglard and Suzanne Noble for their generosity in providing mutant collections, and Linghuo Jiang for generously providing strains. We also thank Susan Budge for her support and excellent technical assistance. We also thank the qPCR Facility in the Institute of Medical Sciences, and particularly Fiona Saunders for her great advice and help. SLK was supported by a PhD scholarship from the University of Aberdeen. AJPB was supported by the UK Biotechnology and Biological Research Council (BB/F00513X/1; BB/K017365/1), by the European Research Council (STRIFE Advanced Grant; ERC-2009-AdG-249793), and by the UK Medical Research Council (MR/M026663/1). AJPB and CAM were also supported by the Wellcome Trust (088858; 097377), and by the MRC Centre for Medical Mycology and the University of Aberdeen (MR/N006364/1).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Nothing to report? Motivations for non- disclosure of social issues by Indonesian listed companies

A study based on the extent of voluntary social disclosure practices of Indonesian listed entities using Global Reporting Initiatives as a simplified social disclosure index found that all Jakarta Stock Exchange listed entities voluntarily disclose some social information in their annual reports, but at a low level (14.15%). Stakeholder theory partially explains the disclosures but does not explain why some issues such as Child Labour, Forced and Compulsory Labour, Bribery and Corruption andPolitical Contributions are not disclosed by any listed companies. This paper examines the motivations for these non-disclosures and suggests that one of the more likely reasons that companies do not disclose certain items is to avoid scrutiny, particularly on issues where they are not performing or where it is evident that they are in breach of government regulations

Thinking strategically about assessment

Drawing upon the literature on strategy formulation in organisations, this paper argues for a focus on strategy as process. It relates this to the need to think strategically about assessment, a need engendered by resource pressures, developments in learning and the demands of external stakeholders. It is argued that in practice assessment strategies are often formed at the level of practice, but that this produces contradiction and confusion at higher levels. Such tensions cannot be managed away, but they can be reflected on and mitigated. The paper suggests a framework for the construction of assessment strategies at different levels of an institution. However, the main conclusion is that the process of constructing such strategies should be an opportunity for learning and reflection, rather than one of compliance