Accountant Perceptions and Attitudes Towards the Social Accounting Practices in Bangladesh

Introduction

Social Accounting Practice is an enigmatic term considered a new tool for a business strategy with the century’s transition. Several studies engrossed on social accounting within the context of a developed country such as Japan from Asian country also Britain, Canada, New Zealand and Australia from the Europe nations, (McDowall and Jackling, 2010) nonetheless a very little proof have examined in developing countries (Kuasirikun, 2005; Islam, 2010; Islam and Deegan, 2010). Social Accounting principally deals with several dimensions, i.e., Environment, Social and Economic, to track the business reports for decision-making purposes. Moreover, the sensation of accounting practices and the standpoint are changing daily in emerging Social Accounting Practices (SAP). Recent accounting scandals and financial crises have highlighted the importance of public confidence in the accounting profession, focusing on ethical issues in the accountancy profession throughout the community (Caglio and Cameran, 2017). It is challenging to separate CSR sustainability (Montiel, 2008; Anderson et al., 2014) because both terms address social and environmental aspects (Montiel, 2008).

Additionally, corporate sustainability and social responsibility have different perspectives, with sustainability being more oriented towards sustainable development. CSR as social networks and sizeable university peers affects CSR performance, mainly the role of education in ethical decision-making (Hu and Fang, 2022). In contrast, CSR is oriented towards corporate social performance or business impact. Similarly, Luo and Liu (2020) find that firms with managers professionally connected through industry associations tend to have better CSR disclosure quality. Although emerging business enterprises are crucial for the organization's performance and success, SAP in Bangladesh is still in its infancy. This paper revisits the impact of accountants and professional accounting bodies in dealing with SAP within the context of Bangladesh. The principal accounting body in Bangladesh is the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB, ICMAB). Despite holding critical positions in government and business, accountants in Bangladesh have little influence on social reporting Practices. Hence, this paper aims to add the social accounting theoretical framework and elicit accountants' perceptions and attitudes on social accounting reporting practices in Bangladesh. The study also tries to find the factors influencing the previously unexplored Bangladeshi accountants' thoughts and perceptions towards one crucial point of social accounting practices.