Accounting for work conditions from modern slavery to decent work

Abstract

PurposeWith the initial focus on the extreme end of the work conditions continuum where, in the last decade, legislation has been introduced to combat illegal and illegitimate practices, this issue's lead paper provides an overview on key topics of extreme work conditions of modern slavery and accounting. The paper introduces the Special Issue on “Accounting for modern slavery, employees and work conditions in business” and its selected papers.Design/methodology/approachThe method adopted is a wide-ranging literature review exploring the continuum of work conditions and their relationship to accounting, especially extreme exploitation of workers through modern slavery.FindingsEmployment and workplace conditions and practices in business can be viewed as a continuum ranging from the illegal and illegitimate practices of modern slavery, through unethical and often illegal practices such as wages theft, to decent work. Given this continuum, in this Special Issue avenues are identified for accounting research to provide an account of the effectiveness of actions taken to eliminate modern slavery and overcome grey areas of work conditions.Practical implicationsThe paper helps to create an improved understanding of different types of exploitation in work conditions in different industries and the role accounting might play in research and practice.Social implicationsSlavery did not end with abolition in the 19th century. Instead, it changed its forms and continues to harm people in every country in the world especially in certain industries, of which several are discussed and accounting advice proffered. Likewise, as reflected in Special Issue papers, the role of accounting in reducing less extreme forms of poor work conditions is also considered.Originality/valueThe paper provides an overview of different forms and degrees of exploitation in work conditions and identifies the need for and areas of accounting research in this emerging area.

Multinational enterprises’ narratives about and approaches to modern slavery: an exploratory study

“…However, this binary thinking fails to consider the significant geographical, environmental and cultural idiosyncrasies underlying modern slavery (Mende and Drubel, 2020; Salmon, 2020). Some scholars suggest moving past this false dichotomy to view modern slavery as a continuum of exploitation ranging from withholding wages to violent physical abuse (Christ et al , 2020; Wilhelm et al , 2020).…”

“…Moreover, slavery is not confined to the developing world – consumers and companies in developed countries are also implicated (Szablewska, 2021). The involvement of multiple stakeholders, many of whom unintentionally support it, enables modern slavery to flourish (Christ et al , 2020).…”

Accounting for modern slavery risk in the time of COVID-19: challenges and opportunities

“…Given modern slavery is a business issue that transcends jurisdictional and national borders, recent years have seen the growth in legislation requiring large businesses to identify, manage and report on modern slavery risk in their supply chains. Further, countries, such as Canada, are also currently considering a similar approach (Christ et al , 2020). The European Union also recently committed to legislating mandatory human rights due diligence for corporations as early as 2021 (Business and Human Rights Resource Centre, 2020).…”

“…Modern slavery risk accounting, auditing and accountability is new and is part of growing interest in clamping down or stamping out the practice (Christ et al , 2020). The United Kingdom and Australia introduced reporting requirements for large companies in all industries.…”

Guest editorial

“…There are several research topics that have room for further discussion such as combinations of MCSs and corporate reporting (e.g. sustainability reporting and integrated reporting) (de Villiers et al, 2016;Dimes and de Villiers, 2020), managing sustainability issues in the supply chain through the use of SCSs (Burritt and Schaltegger, 2014;de Haan-Hoek et al, 2020), the use of SCSs to solve individual sustainability issues such as employee health and safety (Christ et al, 2020;Passetti et al, 2020) and the relationships between corporate governance as one of the MCSs and sustainability performance (Hussain et al, 2018;Orazalin, 2020). There is now a need to go beyond these topics and consider how MCSs and/or SCSs can benefit companies in implementing sustainability and CSR strategies (Ghosh et al, 2019;Laguir et al, 2019;Wijethilake and Upadhaya, 2020).…”