Corporate Social Responsibility
Full cost accounting (also known as Corporate Social Responsibility) embodies the notion that corporate profits may have a broader impact on communities and the environment and that these impacts should be accounted for in any cost-benefit framework. Full cost accounting is often referred to as the triple bottom line and includes a three-part accounting framework: financial, social and environmental. The financial component is a traditional measure of the costs and benefit of production, while the social and environmental components endeavor to measure positive and negative externalities associated with production.
Full cost accounting has been a growing area of interest among many public and private institutions. In recent years financial institutions and corporations have begun to voluntarily report the broader impacts they perceive to have on households, communities and the environment through the release of annual corporate social responsibility reports.
The Alward Institute offers an array of input-output models that can be used to measure the broader impact that investment and production have on local communities. These models represent the monetary value of all transactions that flow through a regional economy within a given period and describe all costs of production as well as all sales between producers and consumers. Because of the comprehensive nature of this accounting framework input-output models can be used to estimate the triple bottom line impacts of a particular industry on a larger community. For example, the input-output framework can be used to estimate the number of local jobs supported through community investment or the level of CO2 emission embedded within a particular industrial process. The input-output framework can also be used to demonstrate the distributional effects that national investment has on communities throughout the nation.
The Alward Institute offers input-output models for all U.S. zip codes, counties, cities, congressional districts, and states as well as many foreign country models. These models are particularly well-suited to investigate the impacts of community investment, industry production and environmental effects. In conjunction with our analytical services they offer the opportunity to better understand and enhance the triple bottom-line performance of both public and private sector organizations.
Payments |
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Sales |
Regional Input-Output Schematic |
Firms |
Factors |
Institutions |
Trade |
Total receipts |
Firms |
Intermediate inputs |
Final demand |
Exports |
Total sales |
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Factors |
Value-added |
Value-added |
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Institutions |
Indirect Taxes |
Income |
Direct taxes, transfers |
HH & gov’t income, savings |
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Trade |
Imports |
Imports |
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Total expenditure |
Total costs |
Total Income |
HH, gov’t, investment expenditure |
Exports |