（1998）Towards a Framework for a Corporate Single Audit：Meeting Financial Statement Users Needs.pdfVIP

Critical Perspectives on Accounting (1998) 9, 177 191 Article ID: pa970165 TOWARDS A FRAMEWORK FOR A CORPORATE SINGLE AUDIT : MEETING FINANCIAL STATEMENT USERS’ NEEDS STEVE G. SUTTON AND VICKY ARNOLD College of Business Administration, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409-2101, USA Over 25 years of research related to social responsibility disclosures by corporations reveals inconsistent and often unreliable reporting. This pa- per uses the US-based Single Audit requirements for state and local governments as a demonstrative platform for a workable and useful social responsibility reporting system. By using the Single Audit require- ments as a benchmark, traditional criticisms suggesting proposed social responsibility disclosures are infeasible are countered with demonstrated experience by state and local governments that such reporting is indeed feasible. 1998 Academic Press Limited Introduction Recent committee efforts by the SEC, FASB and the AICPA have been widely heralded by many in the financial market community as long overdue recognition of the broader needs of financial statement users. Preliminary recommendations of the Jenkins Committee (AICPA, 1994) have called for the reporting of a broader set of financial data that provides improved information for investors and creditors wishing to assess the financial viability of corporate entities. Similar to most re- quired financial statement disclosures, the emerging proposals again ap- pe