Accounting for Chocolate in the Dominican Republic: A Case Study in Volunteer Working Tourism

Abstract

This paper focuses on the Chocal Cooperative in the Dominican Republic. The cooperative is of interest because paying visitors to the facility act as “volunteer working tourists.” Specifically, tourists participate in activities that add value to the process of transforming cocoa beans into the products ultimately sold to customers. This raises the question of how to properly account for the visitor fees: are they revenue or a reduction of direct labor cost? The case study includes a discussion of how US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) might apply.