Identification of Dimensions and Components of Social Auditing in Public Sector Organizations

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
javad alipour 1
seyed abbas barhani 1
reza gholami jamkarani 1
zohreh hajiha 2
1 Department of Accounting ,Q0.C, Islamic Azad University, Qom, Iran
2 Department of Accounting , ST.C., Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
10.22034/jmaak.2025.78704.4590
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to identify the components of social auditing in public sector organizations. In terms of objective, the research is developmental-applied; regarding data collection methods, it is descriptive; and concerning data type, the present study follows a mixed (qualitative and quantitative) research approach, with the qualitative phase conducted through systematic grounded theory methodology. Initially, the research involved a thorough review of documents and records, books, articles, internet resources, theses, specialized texts, and academic literature. Participants in the qualitative phase included experts and specialists in the field of public sector accounting and auditing, such as researchers, professionals, and university faculty members holding doctoral degrees. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with these experts until theoretical data saturation was achieved. The statistical population in the quantitative phase consisted of stakeholders in public sector reporting, particularly auditors working in public sector organizations. The sample size was determined as 384 individuals based on the Krejcie-Morgan table. In the qualitative phase, semi-structured interviews were used, while in the quantitative phase, a researcher-developed questionnaire—designed based on theoretical and practical literature and interview findings—was employed. The validity and reliability of both the interview protocol and questionnaire were established. For data analysis in the qualitative phase, systematic grounded theory methodology was applied, including open, axial, and selective coding. In the quantitative phase, descriptive statistics (central tendency and dispersion indices), tables and charts, factor analysis (confirmatory and exploratory), structural equation modeling, t-tests, Cronbach’s alpha, model fitness tests, and other statistical analyses were used. Research findings revealed a paradigmatic model of social auditing in public sector organizations, with the institutionalization of social auditing in public sector organizations as the core category. This model includes causal conditions (institutional-political components, procedural and operational components, and cultural-human components), contextual factors, intervening conditions, strategies, and outcomes related to components such as transparency and accountability, social participation, social justice and equity, social and environmental sustainability, effectiveness and efficiency of public services, and administrative integrity and honesty. The proposed model of social auditing in public sector organizations was confirmed through empirical testing.

  • ·        باباجانی جعفر، قربانی زاده وجه اله، ایمان زاده پیمان.(1398). الگویی برای استقرار نظام حسابرسی عملکرد در نهادهای بخش عمومی ایران. دانش حسابرسی. ۱۳۹۸; ۱۹ (۷۶) :۳۹-۵۸.

    ·        باباجانی, جعفر , برزیده, فرخ و ایمان زاده, پیمان . (1398). ارزیابی وضع موجود حسابرسی عملکرد در نهادهای بخش عمومی ایران و ارائه راهکارهایی جهت بهبود آن. مطالعات تجربی حسابداری مالی, 16(61), 1-26..

    ·        باوفا, امیرحسین . (1403). شناسایی و مدل‌سازی ساختاری - تفسیری عوامل مؤثر بر فرهنگ حسابرسی بخش عمومی در استان ایلام. فصلنامه علمی فرهنگ ایلام. 25(84.85), 119-142..

    ·        برزگر، قدرت اله؛ حسن نتاج کردی، محسن و ملکی، دنیا (1398). بررسی اثر          ویژگیهای کمیتـه حسابرسـی بـر افشـای مسـئولیتاجتماعی شرکت ها، بررسیهای حسابداری و حسابرسی، 19 (1)، 26-38. 

    ·          جعفری،پریسا.(1397). بررسی رابطه بین حسابرسی اجتماعی و بهبود عملکرد حسابرسان مستقل در شرکت‌های تولیدی و صنعتی استان فارس. پایان نامه کارشناسی ارشد دانشگاه آزاد اسلامی واحد نورآباد ممسنی، دانشکده علوم انسانی.

    ·        حساس یگانه، یحیی و برزگر، قدرت اله (1394). مدلی برای افشای مسئولیت اجتماعی و پایندگی شرکت ها و وضعیت موجود آن در شرکت های پذیرفته در بورس اوراق بهادار تهران. فصلنامه بورس اواق بهادار، 8 (29)، 91-110.

    ·        حساس یگانه، یحیی و برزگر، قدرت اله. (1393). مبانی نظری مسئولیت اجتماعی شرکت‌ها و پارادایم تحقیقاتی آن در حرفه حسابداری. حسابداری مدیریت، 7(3)، 109-133. .

    ·        خدامی پور, احمد, جعفری, محبوبه. (1402). گسترش مسئولیت‌پذیری اجتماعی و زیست محیطی شرکت. مطالعات مدیریت توسعه سبز, 2(1), 101-111.

    ·        سپاسی سحر، رجب زاده علی، رضایت محیا.(1395) طراحی مدل حسابرسی اجتماعی با استفاده از روش مدلسازی معادلات ساختاری- سحر سپاسی- علی رجب زاده- محیا رضایت. دانش حسابرسی. ۱۳۹۵; ۱۶ (۶۵) :۹۷-۱۲۰.

    ·        سلیمانی امیری، غلامرضا، مصطفی ایزدپور و فاطمه گرامی‌راد، (1399)، "تحلیل محتوای نشریه علمی پژوهشی «پژوهش‌های تجربی حسابداری» طی سال‌های 1390 تا 1397"، پژوهش‌های تجربی حسابداری، 10(1)، صص 121-140.

    ·        عبدی, مصطفی , کاظمی علوم, مهدی , محمدپور زنجانی, مسعود مسعود محمدپور زنجانی و پرویزی, آرزو . (1398). تنوع جنسیتی اعضای کمیته حسابرسی، هیئت‌مدیره و مدیر مالی و افشای مسئولیت‌پذیری اجتماعی شرکت: آزمون نظریه دیگرگزینی. بررسی‏‌های حسابداری و حسابرسی, 26(4), 544-569.

    ·        عبدی، مصطفی، سعید همایون و مهدی کاظمی علوم، (1399)، "بررسی تأثیر ویژگی‌های کمیته‌های حسابرسی بر سطح گزارشگری پایداری"، دو فصلنامه حسابداری ارزشی و رفتاری، دوره پنجم، شماره 9، صص 369.

    ·        کاظم پور، مرتضی؛ کاشانیپور، محمد؛ یزدیفر، حسن؛ حمیدیزاده، علی.(1399). چارچوبی برای رتبهبندی افشای مسئولیت-پذیری اجتماعی شرکتها .پژوهشهای حسابداری مالی، 12)1(، 103-124. 

    ·        کیایی،شهرام(1400). تاثیر مسئولیت اجتماعی بر قراردادهای حسابرسی.پایان نامه کارشناسی ارشد موسسه آموزش عالی کار قزوین، گروه حسابداری.

    ·        مرادی، محمد و رضا صفی خانی، (1395)، "تحلیل پژوهش‌های حسابداری بخش عمومی در ایران و جهت‌گیری تحقیقات آتی"، بررسی‏‌های حسابداری و حسابرسی، 23(4)، صص 547.

    ·        مران جوری، مهدی و علی خانی، رضیه (1393)  افشـای  مسـئولی ت هـای  اجتمـاعی و راهبـر ی  شـرکتی. بررسـ یهـا ی  حسـابداری و حسابرسی، 21(3)، 329-348.

    ·        مران جوری، مهدی، و علی خانی، رضیه. (1393). افشای مسوولیت اجتماعی و راهبری شرکت. بررسیهای حسابداری و حسابرسی، 21(3)، 328-349.

    ·        مهرانی، ساسان، کرمی، غلامرضا، سیدحسینی، سیدمصطفی و مهتاب جهرومی. (1396) تئوری حسابداری، تهران: انتشارات نگاه دانش

    ·        ودیعی، محمدحسین، خلیلیان ‌موحد، علی، هزارخانی، سیداسماعیل و فاطمه توسلی فدیهه. (1392). بررسی آخرین تحول‌های گزارشگری مالی یکپارچه. یازدهمین همایش ملی حسابداری ایران، مشهد، دانشگاه فردوسی مشهد.

     

     

    •  

    ·         Adams, A. Muir, C., & Hoque, Z. (2014). Measurement of sustainability performance in the public sector. Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal, 5(1), 46-67.

    • Aktas, R., K.Kayalidere, and M. Kargin. (2017), “Corporate Sustainability Reporting andAnalysis of Sustainability Reports in Turkey”, International Journal of Economics andFinance, 5(3), PP. 113-125.
    • Badía, G., Gómez-Bezares, F., & Ferruz, L. (2022). Are investments in material corporate social responsibility issues a key driver of financial performance? Accounting & Finance, 62(3), 3987–4011. 

    ·         Basargekar, P. (2024). Using Social Audit to Assess the Impact of the Social Program: The Case of Family Counseling Center of Stree Mukti Sanghatana. In BUSINESS AND SOCIETY: Issues and Cases in the Indian Context (pp. 273-300).

    ·         Bodhanwala, S., & Bodhanwala, R. (2022). Exploring relationship between sustainability and firm performance in travel and tourism industry: a global evidence. Social Responsibility Journal, 18(7), 1251-1269.

    • Bychkova SM, Karelskaia SN, Abdalova EB, Zhidkova EA. Social responsibility as the dominant driver of the evolution of reporting from financial to non-financial: theory and methodology. Foods and Raw Materials. 2021;9(1):135-145.
    • Cannon, J.N., Ling, Z.,Wang, Q.,Wantanabe,O.V.(2019).10-K Disclosure of Corporate Social Responsibility and Firms’ Competitive Advantage. European Accounting Review, 29(1),85-113.

    ·         Carter, L. R., & Lee, R. D. (1992). Modeling and forecasting US sex differentials in mortality. International Journal of forecasting, 8(3), 393-411.

    • Channuntapipat, C. (2021). Can sustainability report assurance be a collaborative process  and practice beyond the ritual of verification?. Business Strategy and the Environment, 30(2),775-786.
    • Chawla, A. (2021), "Social audit, accountability and accounting – an Indian perspective", Journal of Accounting in Emerging Economies, Vol. 11 No. 1, pp. 10-26.
    • Cordazzo, M., Bini, L., & Marzo, G. (2020). Does the EU directive on nonfinancial information influence the value relevance of ESG disclosure? Italian evidence. Business Strategy and the Environment, 29, 3470–3483.

    ·         Domingues, A. R., Lozano, R., Ceulemans, K., & Ramos, T. B. (2017). Sustainability reporting in public sector organisations: Exploring the relation between the reporting process and organisational change management for sustainability. Journal of environmental management, 192, 292-301.

    ·         Dumay, J., Guthrie, J., & Farneti, F. (2010). GRI sustainability reporting guidelines for public and third sector organizations: A critical review. Public Management Review, 12(4), 531-548.

    • Dyck, A., Lins, K. V., Roth, L., & Wagner, H. F. (2019). Do institutional investors drive corporate social responsibility? International evidence. Journal of Financial Economics, 131(3), 693-714.

    ·         Forbes, M., & Lynn Jr, L. E. (2005). How does public management affect government performance? Findings from international research. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 15(4), 559-584.

    ·         Fung, A., Graham, M., & Weil, D. (2007). Full Disclosure: The Perils and Promise of Transparency. Cambridge University Press.

    • Gaio, C., & Henriques, R. (2020). Social Responsibility and Financial Performance: The Case of STOXX Europe Index. Corporate Social Responsibility. 
    • Gao, S., & Zhang, J. (2006). “Stakeholdr engagement, social Auditing and corporate sustainability”. Bussiness Process Management Journal, 12(6), 722-740.
    • Gebreyesus, S. A. (2022). THE EFFECT OF AUDIT LEGAL FRAMEWORKS ON PUBLIC EXPENDITURE MANAGEMENT (THE CASE OF PUBLIC SECTOR ENTITIES IN ETHIOPIA). Journal of Economic Sciences: Theory & Practice, 79(1).

    ·         Guthrie, J., & Farneti, F. (2008). GRI sustainability reporting by Australian public sector organizations. Public Money and management, 28(6), 361-366.

    • Hahn, R., & Lülfs, R. (2014). Legitimizing negative aspects in GRI-oriented sustainability reporting: A qualitative analysis of corporate disclosure strategies. Journal of business ethics,123(3), 401-420....
    • Herzig, C. and S. Schaltegger. (2017). Corporate Sustainability Reporting: An Overview.
    • Higgins, C., & Coffey, B. (2016). Improving how sustainability reports drive change: a critical discourse analysis. Journal of cleaner production, 136, 18-29.

    ·         Jha, M. K., & Rangarajan, K. (2020). Analysis of corporate sustainability performance and corporate financial performance causal linkage in the Indian context. Asian Journal of Sustainability and Social Responsibility, 5(1), 10.

    • Johnson, H. (2001). “Corporate social Audits-This Time Around”. Bussiness Horizons Journal, 44(3), 29-36.
    • Khan, M., Serafeim, G., & Yoon, A. (2016). Corporate sustainability: First evidence on materiality. The accounting review, 91(6), 1697-1724.

    ·         Lepoutre, J., Dentchev, N. A., & Heene, A. (2007). Dealing with uncertainties when governing CSR policies. Journal of Business Ethics, 73, 391-408.

    ·         Lodhia, S., Jacobs, K., & Park, Y. (2012). Driving public sector environmental reporting. Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal.

    • Lodhia, S., N. Martin. (2014), “Corporate Sustainability Indicators”, An AustralianMining Case Study. J. Clean. Prod. 84, 107e115. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.05.050.

    ·         Lydia, M. J. & Reson, L. M., (2012). Towards a results-oriented public service in Kenya: The modern human resource management perspective. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 3(21).

    ·         Lynch, B. (2010, March). An examination of environmental reporting by Australian state government departments. In Accounting Forum (Vol. 34, No. 1, pp. 32-45). No longer published by Elsevier.

    ·         Maniora, J. (2018). Mismanagement of sustainability: What business strategy makes the difference? Empirical evidence from the USA. Journal of Business Ethics, 152(4), 931-947.

    •  Maranjory, M. (2021). A Test Auditors› Attitude to Marketing Activities between Members of Iranian Association of Certified Public Accountants. Journal of Professional Auditing Research, 1(4)32In persian).
    • Matuszewska-Pierzynka, A. (2021). Relationship between corporate sustainability performance and corporate financial performance: Evidence from US companies. Equilibrium. Quarterly Journal of Economics and Economic Policy, 16(4), 885-906  .
    • Mio, C., Fasan, M., Marcon, C., & Panfilo, S. (2020). The predictive ability of legitimacy and agency theory after the implementation of the EU directive on non-financial information.Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 27, 2465–2476.
    • Mion, G., & Loza Adaui, C. R. (2019). Mandatory nonfinancial disclosure and its consequences on the sustainability reporting quality of Italian and German companies. Sustainability, 11(17), 4612.
    • Nahitun Naher, Dina Balabanova, Eleanor Hutchinson, Robert Marten, Roksana Hoque, Samiun Nazrin Bente Kamal Tune, Bushra Zarin Islam & Syed Masud Ahmed. (2020) Do social accountability approaches work? A review of the literature from selected low- and middle-income countries in the WHO South-East Asia region. Health Policy and Planning 35:Supplement_1, pages i76-i96.
    • Natale, M., & Ford, J. (1994). “The social Audit and Ethics”, Managerial Auditing Journal, 9(1), 29-33.
    • Nguyen, L. T. (2022). The relationship between corporate sustainability performance and earnings management: evidence from emerging East Asian economies. Journal of Financial Reporting and Accounting. https://doi.org/10.1108/JFRA-09-2021-0302 .
    • Okafor, A., Adeleye, B. N., & Adusei, M. (2021). Corporate social responsibility and financial performance: Evidence from US tech firms. Journal of Cleaner Production, 292, 126078  .
    • Papoutsi, A., & Sodhi, M. S. (2020). Does disclosure in sustainability reports indicate actual sustainability performance? Journal of Cleaner Production, 260, 121049.
    • Parsa, S., Roper, I., Muller-Camen, M., & Szigetvari, E. (2018). Have labour practices and human rights disclosures enhanced corporate accountability? The case of the GRI framework. Accounting Forum, 42(1), 47-64.
    • Pérez-López, D., Moreno-Romero, A., & Barkemeyer, R. (2015). Exploring the relationship between sustainability reporting and sustainability management practices. Business Strategy and the Environment.
    • Prinsloo, A., & Maroun, W. (2020). An exploratory study on the components and quality of combined assurance in an integrated or a sustainability reporting setting. Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal.
    • Ramus, C. A., & Montiel, I. (2005). When are corporate environmental policies a form of greenwashing?. Business & Society, 44(4), 377-414.
    • Resmi, S. I., Begum, N. N., & Hassan, M. M. (2018). Impact of CSR on Firm’s Financial .Performance: A Study on Some Selected Agribusiness Industries of Bangladesh. American Journal of Economics, Finance, and Management, 4(3), 74–85.

    ·         Rezaei Faraz, M., Hosseini, S., Tarafdar, A., Forghani, M., Ahmadi, H., Fellows, N., & Liaghat, G. (2024). Crashworthiness behavior assessment and multi-objective optimization of horsetail-inspired sandwich tubes based on artificial neural network. Mechanics of Advanced Materials and Structures, 31(26), 8307-8324.

    • Simnett, R., Vanstraelen, A., & Chua, W. F. (2009). Assurance on sustainability reports: An international comparison. The accounting review, 84(3), 937-967.
    • Smith, J., Haniffa, R., & Fairbrass, J. (2011). A conceptual framework for investigating ‘capture’ in corporate sustainability reporting assurance. Journal of Business Ethics, 99(3), 425–439.

    ·         Steurer, R. (2010). The role of governments in corporate social responsibility: Characterising public policies on CSR in Europe. Policy sciences, 43, 49-72.

    • Sushmita ,Gahlot.12th November 2013,Social Audits in India,International Research Journal of Social Sciences, ISSN ,1-3 .
    • Sysoieva I, Poznyakovska N, Balaziuk O, Miklukha O, Akimova L and Pohrishchuk B 2021 Social innovations in the educational space as a driver of economic development of modern society Financial and Credit Activity: Problems of Theory and Practice 3 538-48.
    • Tauringana, V. (2020). Sustainability reporting challenges in developing countries: towards management perceptions research evidence-based practices. Journal of Accounting in Emerging Economies.

    ·         The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. (2015). Corporate Reporting (CR), Chapter 17, Florida: Kaplan Publishing.

    ·         Williams, B., Wilmshurst, T., & Clift, R. (2011, September). Sustainability reporting by local government in Australia: Current and future prospects. In Accounting forum (Vol. 35, No. 3, pp. 176-186). No longer published by Elsevier.

    • WU Zongli. Social Audit Regulation Platform: Construction Basis and Operating Mechanism[J]. JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY FINANCE AND ECONOMICS, 2023, 0(2): 134-150.