Organisational objectives 3 On completing this chapter you should be able to: Know and understand

Evaluation of social audits
• Until social audits are made compulsory and there is general agreement about what 
they should include and how the contents will be veri
fi
ed, some observers will not 
take them seriously.
• Companies have been accused of using them as a publicity stunt or a ‘smokescreen’ to 
hide their true intentions and potentially damaging practices.
• They can be very time-consuming and expensive to produce and publish and this may 
make them of limited value to small businesses or those with very limited 
fi
nance.
Benefits
Limitations
• Identifies what social responsibilities the business is 
meeting
– and what still needs to be achieved.
• Sets targets for improvement in social performance by 
comparing audits with the best-performing firms in the 
industry.
• Gives direction to the action plans a business still needs to 
put into effect to achieve its social/ethical objectives.
• Improves a company’s public image and this
can be used as a 
marketing tool to increase sales.
• If the social audit is not independently checked – as published 
accounts must be – will it be taken seriously by stakeholders?
• Time and money must be devoted to producing a detailed 
social audit
– is
this
really necessary if it is not legally 
required?
• Many consumers may just be interested in cheap goods, not 
whether the businesses they buy from are socially responsible.
• A social audit does not prove that a business is being socially 
responsible.
Table 1.3.4 
Benefits and limitations of social audits

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Organisational objectives
49
higher stock market valuation than another solely on account of its good social and 
environmental reputation.
Shell, a company with traditionally one of the worst reputations among environmental 
and social pressure groups, has made enormous efforts to reinvent itself as a