This paper underlines the importance of the concept of value for corporate social responsibility (CSR) and then explores it beyond economics, looking for its social and philosophical roots. Considering the most recent literature on the matter, the dilemma between a non‐monetary, multi‐variable conception and a monetary, one‐variable conception is set. To obtain the origins of the meaning for this basic concept in CSR, Italian literature regarding ‘value in accounting’ is explored. The main result from this first survey is the existence of a ‘chain’ from the highest conception of value (philosophical, ethical), to the most practical conception (accounting techniques of measurement). By this first approach, some provisional normative clauses are then deduced, in a ‘problem‐setting attitude’ to be tested by means of further research on the topic, exploring other literature and building a new general paradigm to finally provide a commonly shared measure for social value. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

Paper accepted for the journal "Regional Environmental Change" 15/08/2010Abstract Progress towards climate change aware regional sustainable development is affected by actions at multiple spatial scales and governance levels, and equally impacts actions at these scales. Many authors and policy practitioners consider therefore that decisions over policy, mitigation strategies and capacity for adaptation to climate change require construction and coordination over multiple levels of governance to arrive at acceptable local, regional and global management strategies. However, how such processes of coordination and decision-aiding can occur and be maintained and improved over time is a major challenge in need of investigation. We take on this challenge by proposing research-supported methods of aiding multi-level decision-making processes in this context. Four example regionally-focussed multi-level case studies from diverse socio-political contexts are outlined -estuarine management in Australia's Lower Hawkesbury, flood and drought management in Bulgaria's Upper Iskar Basin, climate policy integration in Spain's Comunidad Valenciana, and food security in Bangladesh's Faridpur Districtfrom which insights are drawn. Our discussion focuses on exploring these insights including: (1) the possible advantages of informal research-supported processes, and specifically those that provide individual arenas of participation for different levels of stakeholders; (2) the complexity of organisation processes required for aiding multi-level decision-making processes; and (3) to what extent progress towards integrated regional policies for climate change aware sustainable development can be achieved through research-supported processes. We finish with a speculative section that provides ideas and directions for future research.

This study analyzes the nature of money through the lens of the international principles of accounting and lays the foundations of what it calls the accounting view of money (AVM). Using international accounting principles, the AVM argues that the fiat monies issued by the state (typically, cash, banknotes, and central bank money) are not debt and that in fractional reserve regimes, only a share of commercial bank money can be regarded as debt. The AVM argues, instead, that state monies and the nondebt share of commercial bank money are net wealth of their holders and net worth (equity) of their issuers and determines how the seigniorage associated with money issuance should be accounted for correctly in the financial statements of the issuing institutions. The AVM points to the correct way to account for the various forms of money in the financial statements of the issuing institutions, clarifies what the different accounting treatments imply for a correct understanding of the concept of money, and evaluates the related economic and economic policy implications.

Since the 2008 global economical and financial crisis, the fair value measurement has acquired a controversial position both within the accounting regulatory committees and the accounting theory. The literature generally examines two opposite central paradigms of evaluation, namely the Fair Value Accounting (FVA) and the Historical Cost Accounting (HCA). The paper, after a literature review through both these opposite sides, suggests a theoretical framework, using the basic concept of “accounting system”, for the choice between the opposite paradigms, considered noteworthy in times of crisis as it should allow to conceptualize a ‘mixed system’, combining FVA and HCA in different ways according to the different contexts and entities reported by the financial statements.

No abstract