ACCA P4考試：Triple Bottom Line Reporting ("TBL" or "3BL")

< The phrase was coined by John Elkington, co-founder of the business consultancy Sustain Ability. It is an expanded baseline for measuring performance.

< Triple bottom line accounting attempts to measure and report corporate performance against economic, social and environmental benchmarks in order to show improvement or to make more in-depth evaluation.*

< It can be viewed as:

= a reporting device (e.g. information presented in annual reports); and/or

= an approach to improving decision-making and the activities of organizations (e.g. by providing tools and frameworks for considering the economic, environmental and social implications of decisions, products, operations, future plans).

Advantages

■Makes transparent the organization's decisions that explicitly consider effects

on the environment and people, as well as on financial capital.

■More informed decision-making as decision-makers can quantify tradeoffs between different aspects of sustainability.

■Improved relationships with key stakeholders and improved risk management through consultation.

■Specific commercial advantages (e.g. competitive advantage with customers suppliers and providers of finance).

■Enhancement of reputation and brand. May result in attracting and retaining employees with sustainable values.

Disadvantages

■There are currently few standards for measuring these effects.

■Usefulness and comparability, as there is a significant range of disclosure (content and quality).

■The difference between the economic bottom line and the financial bottom line is often blurred.

■Increase in annual reporting costs with disproportionate costs for smaller entities.

■Potential exposure to risk and liability relating to the reliability of the report's content (unless audit is mandatory).

■Potential bias in voluntary presentation (e.g. including only favorable information).