El Sistema de Información Contable: Una propuesta de articulación de la dimensión económico-financiera con la social y la ambiental

Abstract

Various economic organizations, such as social actors, from the public, private and mixed sectors, both for profit and non-profit, recognize the importance of social and environmental economic information, issuing the so-called sustainability reports of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). In Argentina, according to Technical Resolution No. 36, the sustainability report that forms the structure of the Social Balance is published by the Argentine Federation of Professional Councils of Economic Sciences. The most recent version of the sustainability reports is the G4, recommended by GRI for reports published after December 31, 2015. However, from a preliminary exploration it is observed that different organizations issue their sustainability reports according to this Version G4.
From considering that accounting discipline can be understood as a system of provisionally established ideas (scientific knowledge), that scientific research in accounting is an activity that produces new ideas, that studies events and processes, and that in economic organizations is found A SIC that allows systematic, systematic, quantified and evaluable economic and financial information to be produced, there are several questions, including: Is it possible to update or adapt the existing SIC of an entity to include environmental and social environmental issues of the G4 version of GRI? If possible: How could the traditional SIC be updated or adapted? With the questions raised, it is interpreted as a social need to adapt the existing SIC in organizations to contribute to the sustainability and / or sustainability of economic organizations and society as a whole.
In order to contribute to minimizing risks of omission and / or duplication of data, generate knowledge, plan and decide, an attempt is made to collaborate from accounting to systematization of selected indicators of the social performance, environment and economy category of the G4 version of GRI, helping to a more sustainable management. It is the specific objective to provide specificities for the accounting subprocess of description and qualitative and quantitative explanation in its catchment stage, so as to facilitate the adaptation and / or updating of the SIC, considering the most current version of the GRI guide.
A conceptual framework is developed and an empirical research is carried out considering the organization's identity characteristics, the issuance of sustainability reports, or sustainability, of the GRI G4 version, and its denominations, the option (essential or exhaustive) chosen by the issuing organizations , The inclusion of verification or audit reports and selected indicators for the social, environmental and economic categories. To achieve this, we search for Google reports, reports or 2015 sustainability reports corresponding to the G4 version. Given the few reports found, the search is extended to 2014 sustainability reports, reports, or similar, issued in 2015. From the reports found, a random selection is made.
Data collection grids are prepared and completed from the general basic contents: Profile of the organization (G4-3, G4-4, G4-5 and G4-7), material aspects and coverage (G4-18, G4-19, G4-20 and G4-21) and memory profile (G4 -28, G4-32 and G4-33). Of the specific basic contents, a total of twenty indicators are selected: economy category (EC2 and EC8), environmental category (EN29 and EN31) and subcategory of labor practices and decent work in the social performance category,
Employment aspects (LA1, LA2 , LA3, LA3), Worker health and safety (LA5, LA6, LA7, LA8), Training and education (LA9, LA10, LA11), Diversity and equal opportunities , Equal pay for women and men (LA13), Evaluation of labor practices of providers (LA14, LA15), and Mechanisms for claiming labor practices (LA16). Results of the survey are obtained and analyzed considering, for this case, as an independent variable the selected identity characteristics of the organization and as a dependent variable to the option according to the guide and, therefore, the indicators selected for the Present study. Subsequently, conclusions are inferred considering the SIC and specifically the stage of capturing the accounting subprocess of description and qualitative and quantitative explanation, so as to make it possible to adapt and / or update said SIC to requirements of the G4 version of the GRI guide.
The study shows that, in a general sense, a willingness to inform and improve information, as well as organizations committed to sustainability, is observable. Of the fourteen organizations selected, 10 (71%) are industrial and 4 (29%) are services; 6 (42.9%) were Spanish, 3 (21.4%) from Argentina, 3 (21.4%) from Colombia, 1 (7.1%) from Mexico and 1 (7.1%) from Honduras. Over 70% are profit-making private entities. Reports or reports issued in accordance with G4 have different names. Among the options informed, the essential is found in greater proportion. The analyzes carried out allow us to infer that the traditional SIC could be updated or adapted to capture social and environmental data, in addition to the economic ones, that make up the GRI G4 indicators through the inclusion in the subprocess of "description and qualitative explanation And quantitative analysis of resources and facts related to an entity or organization "of the accounting process of minutes, reports of the sectors involved, certifications of pertinent organisms, survey results and other adequate supporting documentation, in a systematic and methodical way for their classification , Socio-environmental investment, socio-environmental expenditure, social capital, natural, others), subsequent registration and information.
This would help to develop more homogenous reports and avoid, among other things: risks of duplication and omission, that some organizations include information in the body of the report and others in the content index; Different terms with similar meanings are used; Several indicators are grouped or presented individually; Consider different approaches or perspectives to provide information; Similar data are used in different indicators; In some cases qualitative information and other qualitative and quantitative information. To articulate the economic, social and environmental dimension in the SIC in organizations, in addition to contributing to the systematicity and synthesis of information, would facilitate the review, verification or evaluation of information and its process, for the sake of sustainability and / Or sustainability of economic organizations and of society as a whole.