What is a social balance?
Social balance is a statement that companies make about their indicators of social, environmental and economic responsibilities.
The purpose of this document is to demonstrate to the general public how much the organization contributes to the society around it. Examples of this are the costs of taking care of the environment or, even, with the food and health of the employees.
The preparation of this statement may involve professionals in addition to the Accounting area, such as Human Resources.
Preparation of the Social Report.
The Social Balance does not yet have a standardized elaboration, being one of the most used compositions:
- Presentation of the company with income and results for the period;
- Demonstration of internal and external indicators on the influences received or transferred;
- Value Added Declaration (DVA);
- Presentation of projects in development;
- Quality and performance indicators;
- Additional Information.
The Declaration of Added Value presents the wealth generated and distributed during the period. This document can be very useful to evaluate how the company contributes economically to society.
The preparation of the DVA is already mandatory by law, and may or may not be linked to the Social Balance.
You can learn more about the Value Added Statement.
Origins of the Social Report
The Social Balance is a document that emerged with the great challenge about the social and environmental concern of companies, in European countries and in the United States.
With the emergence of interest groups ( stakeholders ), the preparation and presentation of this statement to the public has become a habit of organizations.
In Portugal, this document must be submitted in the form of a form, being mandatory by law for public and private companies with more than one hundred employees.
Because it is a methodology still under development, many organizations prepare their social balances autonomously and can serve as a basis for studies on this topic.