Abstract
This first paper in the Special Issue on “Modern slavery and the accounting profession” considers how various branches and functions of the accounting profession in business operations and supply chains are implicated by the move to end modern slavery. Accounting has always been involved with slavery practices. When slavery was legal, accounting focused on reporting slaves as assets and expenses in the accounts. In these more humane times, now that ownership of slaves is illegal, the accounting profession has different functional responsibilities towards modern slavery. These include external reporting in line with and above and beyond requirements of legislation; internal management accounting to build awareness and support planning, control and decision making to reduce modern slavery risk and look for opportunities from mitigation; and audit and assurance to ensure credibility of claims made by business. The papers presented in this Special Issue touch upon some of the key aspects of the connection between modern slavery and management control systems, corporate disclosures and the historical role of professional auditors/the accounting profession, but much remains to be achieved in the research agenda ahead.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 101174 |
| Journal | British Accounting Review |
| Volume | 55 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| Early online date | 20 May 2023 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - May 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This example shows that the links between non-government bodies and professional accountancy bodies are growing in relation to sustainability issues and human rights in a general sense, but at this point do not extend to modern slavery. Nonetheless, professional accountancy bodies are looking to help their members with modern slavery and are both investing in research as well as producing their own modern slavery statements. For instance, CPA Australia has funded the development of a Modern Slavery Compass, to guide practitioners in relation to reporting requirements and best practice, and which has since been used to help develop its approach to reporting in its 2020 CPA Australia Modern Slavery Statement (Christ & Burritt, 2020). Designed by academics, the example demonstrates how the three arms of the accounting profession are coming together to support greater transparency about actions and mitigation of entities in relation to modern slavery.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 British Accounting Association
Data Availability Statement
No data was used for the research described in the article.Keywords
- Academia
- Accounting profession
- Audit and assurance
- Management accounting
- Modern slavery
- Policy-making
- Practitioners
- Reporting
