A business research centre at Cardiff University, Wales, has teamed up with the British arm of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) to release a new guide on corporate social responsibility (CSR) for small and medium-sized businesses, called The ABC of CSR for small and medium enterprises. If you don’t mind the Welsh, and can handle reading “programme” instead of “program”, then you might find this guide offers some valuable lessons.
I’ve mentioned these issues before, but they bear repeating. Consider these benefits of engaging in CSR activities:
- Improved image and reputation
- Improved trust and understanding
- Larger, more prominent profile
- Better market position
- More business
- Increased employee motivation
- Increased staff retention and decreased absenteeism
- Enhanced ability to recruit and retain staff
- Cost savings and increased efficiency
- Benefits company culture
The guide’s authors note:
Ultimately CSR is about running your business in a responsible, professional and sustainable way that develops and maintains good relationships with all stakeholders. It is not about extravagant and highly visible programmes. While the size of your business will inevitably create constraints, there is no reason why your commercial success cannot go hand-in-hand with a commitment to social responsibility and environmental sustainability.
Of course, I’m not sure you care about social responsibility, and maybe I keep harping on about it, but like it or not, governments, consumers and even industry associations are coming round to the idea, and that means it might be in your best interest to take a look. The guide contains lots of great material and plentiful examples of things both big and small that any organization can do to improve its CSR profile—and bottom line.
Adam Gorley
First Reference Human Resources and Compliance Editor
In many cases, corporate citizenship is just about good governance, and that’s the message behind Finance & Accounting PolicyPro. FAPP also includes a chapter dedicated to many aspects of environmental management, including environmental protection, hazardous material management, recycling, energy conservation, sustainability and emissions trading.
