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Social Accountability Audits: Challenging or Defending Democratic Governance?
Author(s) -
Courville Sasha
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
law and policy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.534
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1467-9930
pISSN - 0265-8240
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9930.2003.00151.x
Subject(s) - accountability , audit , corporate governance , democracy , reflexivity , stakeholder , social accounting , certification , corporate social responsibility , political science , accounting , business , public relations , public administration , sociology , law , social science , accounting information system , finance , politics
Current criticisms of the role of audit in society have painted a bleak picture about its use as a regulatory tool, highlighting negative consequences for democratic governance. This paper examines social accountability audits in light of these concerns. Two case studies of social certification systems are examined in detail: Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International (FLO) and Social Accountability International (SAI). These systems are evaluated using the lenses of accountability, ownership, trust, and reflexivity before concluding that social auditing processes, if done well and situated within stakeholder‐based institutions such as FLO and SAI, can aid democratic and legitimate governance processes.