Northern Rock Foundation

Really Telling Accounts

At the time of publication there was a growing interest in social accounting and audit from social economy and voluntary organisations and from agencies that invest in and support them. All were looking for ways of proving their value, improving their effectiveness, and understanding their worth to society. The main purpose of this research was to explore to what extent social accounting and audit had been used by social economy organisations in the North East of England, Cumbria, Merseyside and Scotland, to understand the perceived barriers to expanding its practice and how it may be made more “do-able” and more robust. The research also explored to what extent social accounting might serve as the basis for a common reporting framework by organisations reporting to investors and to funders.