Social Accounting and Accountability Research Centre

SAARC : researching the social, environmental
and political implications of accounting

The Social Accounting and Accountability Research Centre (SAARC) was established in 2008 within the Accounting Discipline, School of Accounting and Finance, Faculty of Commerce.

It is increasingly acknowledged that accounting is not an objective, neutral practice, but emanates to a large extent from the justification and mobilisation of the agenda of private enterprises, governments, and nonprofit organisations. Accounting and its networks of accountability are not limited in their effects to the economic, but have social and political consequences, re-forming the way in which we view the world. In identifying the social effect of existing accounting practices, and imagining new mechanisms for accounting and accountability that include social implications, SAARC researchers focus on a wide range of projects, from climate change initiatives, to the accountability of aid agencies and accounting’s role in the deinstitutionalisation of mental hospitals.

Last reviewed: 22 May, 2008