Introduction
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting has been
emerging over the past several years, though it is still in its
infancy. It has developed to the point where it seems unlikely
that it will go away. Rather, it seems destined to become a key
part of the overall accounting reporting framework, joining
external financial reporting, income tax reporting, regulatory
reporting, and internal reporting. As CSR reporting is an
emerging field, we provide a structured look at its development
to date, and consider where it may be headed.
In Carnegie and Napier’s study ‘‘Exploring comparative
international accounting history,’’ published in the
Accounting, Auditing,&Accountability Journal, the authors
developed a framework of seven dimensions (detailed later)
to define comparative international accounting history
(CIAH) and examine research within that genre (2002). That
paper evaluated ‘‘the potential of CIAH to contribute to an
understanding of accounting’s past and provide insights into
accounting’s present and future’’ (Carnegie and Napier 2002,
p. 689). Using Carnegie and Napier’s framework for the
comparative study of accounting systems, we compare the
development of CSR reporting to date with the longer
established development of financial reporting. Our goal is
that this paper contributes to an understanding of CSR
reporting’s past and provides insights into CSR reporting’s
present and future