Essay格式范文：Ethical Issues in Business: Accounting and Environmentalism

Essay格式范文-商业伦理问题：会计与环境保护主义。本篇留学生Essay旨在概述社会会计和社会报告的重要性，并对其进行深入解释；就商业社会而言。使用苹果公司作为案例研究和进一步参考，将允许对这些术语进行详细分析，以使读者更深入地理解。             
社会会计和报告是衡量公司业绩的一个重要因素，但没有统一的定义。因此，如果这些术语没有官方身份，我们可以问什么是社会会计和报告。社会会计和报告是一种仅根据数字来评估企业绩效的方法。它考虑了其他利益相关者群体，而不仅仅是股东，因为它强调了企业对不同问题的责任的重要性。问题包括：；环境、地方和国家参与（慈善）。这篇留学生Essay范文包含以下三个部分，供参考。

Part A:

This section is to outline the importance of social accounting and social reporting and to define this with an in depth explanation; in terms of within a business society. The use of the company Apple as a case study and further references, will allow a detailed analysis of these terms, to give a deeper understanding to the reader.
Social accounting and reporting is a huge factor in measuring companies’ performances, however there is no single agreed definition. Therefore we could ask what actually is social accounting and reporting, if there is no official identity to the terms. Social accounting and reporting is a way of evaluating a business’s performance only on numerical figures. It takes into account other Stakeholder groups rather than just Shareholders, as it highlights the importance of a business responsibility to differing issues. Issues include; environmental, local and national involvement (charity).
This statement can be supported by many sources including; D. Crowther (2000) as he defines social accounting in this sense as “an approach to reporting a firm’s activities which stresses the need for the identification of socially relevant behaviour, the determination of those to whom the company is accountable for its social performance and the development of appropriate measures and reporting techniques.” [1] Another definition to identify the term “social accounting” comes from O,Dwyer (2006).
这一说法可以得到许多来源的支持，包括：；D、 Crowther将社会会计定义为“一种报告公司活动的方法，强调需要识别与社会相关的行为，确定公司对其社会绩效负责的人，并制定适当的措施和报告技术。“确定“社会会计”一词的另一个定义来自O，Dwyer。
However he defines the term from the perspective of an accountant stating “social accounting scholars are a group of individuals with ‘commitment to stakeholder accountability and democracy’”.[2] However this is not always be case, as social accounts may be biased for different reasons. Accountant’s desire for work fees could lead them to saying things which aren’t completely true, which can cause huge legitimacy problems. Secondly social accounting can also be recognised as a contributing factor of many social conflicts and disputes. This links to Apple as looking at the report “Apples un-kept promises”; we can see that legitimacy problem have arisen, from the claims made in their progress report. Apple claims: “We don’t tolerate underage labour. Our code requires our suppliers to provide special treatment to juvenile workers.”[3] However the China labour watch disclosed in their report ‘Apples un-kept promises’; that within 2 factories they found many underage workers and employment right were minimal or even non-existent.
然而，他从会计师的角度定义了这个术语，指出“社会会计学者是一群‘致力于利益相关者问责制和民主’的个人”。然而，情况并非总是如此，因为社会账户可能因不同原因而存在偏见。会计师对工作费的渴望可能会导致他们说一些不完全真实的话，这可能会导致巨大的合法性问题。其次，社会会计也可以被视为许多社会冲突和纠纷的促成因素。这与苹果公司在看“苹果未兑现承诺”的报告有关；我们可以从他们在进度报告中提出的主张中看到，合法性问题已经出现。苹果声称：“我们不容忍未成年劳工。我们的法规要求我们的供应商为未成年工人提供特殊待遇。”然而，中国劳工观察在其报告中披露了“苹果不遵守承诺”；在两个工厂内，他们发现许多未成年工人和就业权利微乎其微，甚至根本不存在。
However social accounting may seem a positive driver for pleasing numerous Stakeholders, nevertheless it still has its disadvantages as a performance measure. Stuart Cooper (2004) “Social and environmental accounting is flawed as it does not address the problem of the capitalist system”. This suggests that as long as money is the main objective in companies, they will never be legitimate with its social accounting objectives. Apple are a company which seem to adopt a capitalist culture, due to evidence discovering the length of working hours and the wage workers receive. “Working hours are too long, with 7-day weeks, shifts exceeding 12 hours and 80 hours of overtime a month not uncommon. It appears that “falsified attendance records” help disguise the real figures”. [4] Further from this the pay rate is at only ‘$1.20 per hour’.
然而，社会会计似乎是取悦众多利益相关者的积极驱动因素，但作为绩效衡量标准，它仍有其缺点。斯图尔特·库珀“社会和环境会计是有缺陷的，因为它没有解决资本主义制度的问题”。这表明，只要金钱是公司的主要目标，它们就永远不会符合其社会会计目标。苹果公司是一家似乎采用资本主义文化的公司，因为有证据表明员工的工作时间和工资待遇。“工作时间太长，每周7天，轮班超过12小时，每月加班80小时，这并不罕见。看来，“伪造的出勤记录”有助于掩盖真实数字。”。此外，工资仅为“每小时1.20美元”。       
Looking at Grey, Owen, Adams theory of social responsibility stances we can see that Apple clearly adopts an expedients approach, as they only proposed changes in 2012 (the progress report), to rebuild their tattered reputation. The report “un-kept promises” published by the China Labour Watch, showed how all promises mentioned in the progress report, to better employment rights and increase interests with different Stakeholder groups, were shattered, as independent enquiries were made to show that workers were receiving less than adequate treatment, for example no action was made to better environmental issues.
看看格雷、欧文和亚当斯关于社会责任立场的理论，我们可以看到，苹果显然采取了权宜之计，因为他们只是在2012年提出了改变（进展报告），以重建其支离破碎的声誉。中国劳工观察组织发布的《未兑现的承诺》报告显示，进展报告中提到的改善就业权利和增加与不同利益相关者群体的利益的所有承诺都遭到了破坏，因为进行了独立调查，表明工人得到的待遇不足，例如没有采取行动改善环境问题。       
To conclude social accounting is an important measure for all businesses. However its importance differs in different ways, as some businesses only accepts social responsibility as long as it benefits them. However some companies genuinely put the importance of social responsibility, before profits and reputation, these companies usually take a deep ecologist view to responsibility and include companies such as Greenpeace. Overall social responsibility is mainly adopted for self-benefits, and this is where the term “Green wash” has emerged.
总结社会会计是所有企业的一项重要措施。然而，它的重要性在不同方面有所不同，因为一些企业只接受社会责任，只要它对他们有利。然而，一些公司真的把社会责任的重要性放在了利润和声誉之前，这些公司通常对责任持深刻的生态学家观点，包括绿色和平等公司。总体社会责任主要用于自我利益，这就是“绿色洗涤”一词出现的地方。
Part B:
This part of the essay outlines what is meant by the term ‘ethical issues’, giving an understanding of the two theories ethical relativism and ethical absolutism. The report is also to highlight the importance of ethics within companies, and give justification for its importance. Furthermore the use of Apple articles and further references will allow an assessment to be made, and assumptions on Apples performance to these matters will be highlighted. The use of different viewpoints from varying Stakeholders will make the reports analysis more solid, as this will allow advantages and disadvantages to be seen in differing scenarios, rather than just seeing the benefits/negatives of main Shareholders.
本文的这一部分概述了“伦理问题”一词的含义，对伦理相对主义和伦理绝对主义这两种理论进行了理解。该报告还将强调公司内部道德的重要性，并为其重要性提供理由。此外，使用苹果公司的文章和进一步的参考资料将允许进行评估，并强调苹果公司在这些问题上的表现假设。使用不同利益相关者的不同观点将使报告分析更加可靠，因为这将允许在不同场景中看到优点和缺点，而不仅仅是看到主要股东的优点/缺点。
Ethical issues are mainly defined through two different theories; either relativism or absolutism. Ethical absolutism is a theory where something is only right or wrong, it does not consider any other situations or scenarios. On the other hand Ethical relativism this theory were nothing is categorically right or wrong, as it is mainly relies on the circumstances of an individual, culture, beliefs or emotions. Therefore there is more tolerance on positive or negative actions that may be seen as immoral due to the moral absolutism theory.
伦理问题主要通过两种不同的理论来定义；相对主义或绝对主义。道德绝对主义是一种理论，其中某些事情只对或错，它不考虑任何其他情况或场景。另一方面，道德相对主义——这一理论没有绝对正确或错误，因为它主要取决于个人的环境、文化、信仰或情绪。因此，由于道德绝对主义理论，对可能被视为不道德的积极或消极行为有更多的宽容。
Looking at Apples Progress Report for 2012 outlines, how Apple have managed ethical matters to suite many Stakeholders involved within the company, demonstrating strong cooperate responsibility. Many statements are made within report; differing amongst Stakeholder groups, however the quote “We require that our suppliers provide safe working conditions, treat workers with dignity and respect, and use environmentally responsible manufacturing processes wherever Apple products are made.” [5] This statement evidently indicates the importance of the employee, pressure groups and environmentalists to the Apple brand; this analytically shows good responsibility to these stakeholders welfare. However contrasting this other sources have indicated that Apple has not complied with many of the statements they have made, regarding their ethical responsibility. A report called the ‘Other Side of Apple’ by the Friends of nature, the IPE and green Beagle (2011) found that “it was discovered that Lian Jian Technology had environmental violations, as they “did not carry out the appropriate measures which resulted in hazardous waste material run off.
看看苹果公司2012年的进展报告，苹果公司如何管理道德问题，以满足公司内部的许多利益相关者，显示出强大的合作责任。报告中有许多陈述；然而，在利益相关者群体中，“我们要求我们的供应商提供安全的工作条件，以尊严和尊重的态度对待员工，并在生产苹果产品的任何地方使用对环境负责的制造工艺。”这一声明明显表明了员工、压力团体和环保人士对苹果品牌的重要性；这从分析上表明了对这些利益相关者福利的良好责任。然而，与此形成对比的是，其他消息人士表示，苹果没有遵守他们所做的许多关于道德责任的声明。自然之友、IPE和达尔问自然求知社发布的一份名为“苹果的另一面”的报告发现，“发现联建科技存在环境违法行为，因为他们”没有采取适当措施，导致危险废物流失。
They also had not filled out the hazardous waste transfer manifest documentation.” [6] From this we can evidently assume that Apple have minimal interest in changing practices to make them more environmentally friendly, they’d rather pay heavy fines. As changing practices would be costly and may affect the annual profits of Apples displeasing the Shareholders. This indicates that social responsibility is only implemented for the interest of Apple. Similarly according to a report from the China Labour watch show cased many ethical issues involving employees throughout all three factories, issues such as; an immense number of underage workers were discovered and of which did not receive any exceptional protection/treatment in comparison to workers of age. They were made to work within the same conditions and hours of employees of legal age. Additionally all workers were made to sign documents to falsify the hours that they do, therefore breaking employment regulations.
他们还没有填写危险废物转移清单文件。”从这一点上，我们可以明显地假设，苹果对改变做法以使其更环保的兴趣微乎其微，他们宁愿支付高额罚款。因为改变做法成本高昂，可能会影响苹果公司的年度利润，令股东们不快。这表明社会责任只是为了苹果的利益而实施的。同样，根据《中国劳工观察》的一份报告，该节目调查了三家工厂员工的许多道德问题，如：；发现了大量未成年工人，其中与成年工人相比，未成年工人没有得到任何特殊保护/待遇。他们被要求在与法定年龄员工相同的条件和时间内工作。此外，所有工人都被要求签署文件，伪造他们的工作时间，因此违反了就业规定。
However overseas employment is greatly important to many less economically developed countries, Apple provides an income for their employees, as well as giving them opportunities to learn new skills, and increasing their life satisfaction. A Case Study involving Man Power to recruit a workforce force from the Monga-hit region of Rangpur, supports this as “the government assigned a quota to send 18000 poor people from the Monga-hit region comprising greater Rangpur to overseas countries with job.” [7] As well as offering “loans to poor youths of the Monga-hit region consisting of greater Rangpur for overseas employment.” [8] This shows the importance of companies being overseas, as governments of these less developed countries heavily encourage inward investment, as it benefits them in many ways; as the government gain more taxation to improve public services, as well as less dependency on them for income. Shareholders will also benefit as wages are much lower overseas, therefore increased profits could be made, increasing dividends.
然而，海外就业对许多经济欠发达国家来说非常重要，苹果公司为员工提供了收入，也为他们提供了学习新技能的机会，提高了他们的生活满意度。一项涉及人力资源的案例研究支持了这一点，即“政府分配了一个配额，将包括大朗布尔在内的蒙加受灾地区的18000名贫困人口送往海外有工作的国家。”以及“向包括大朗普尔在内的蒙加受灾地区贫困青年提供海外就业贷款”。“这表明公司在海外的重要性，因为这些欠发达国家的政府大力鼓励外来投资，因为这在很多方面对他们有利；随着政府增加税收以改善公共服务，同时减少对公共服务的收入依赖。股东也将受益，因为海外的工资要低得多，因此可以增加利润，增加股息。
To conclude Apples performance towards its promises to alter social issues, have been extremely poor. As evidence through investigations by the Chinese Labour Watch and a report from the Friends of nature, IPE and Green Beagle all have identified many issues involving numerous Stakeholders, including: employees, environment and its suppliers, where all parties were suffering from the production of Apple products. However on the other hand these factories do play an important role economically to the countries. As they provide employment to very low-skilled people, and most likely pay better wages than competitors. As well, governments promote inward investment into countries like these, as they financially aid the country through additional taxes, as well as a reduction in the unemployed, therefore less dependence on the government for survival. This view is supported by the Case Study on Manpower. Overall for Apple to be socially responsible they do need to address ethical issues that have been mentioned, as eventually them only providing the advantage and employment to a country won’t be enough. In the future more damage could be made environmentally, costing the government large amounts of money.
总之，苹果在改变社会问题的承诺方面的表现非常糟糕。通过中国劳工观察组织的调查和自然之友组织的一份报告，IPE和达尔问自然求知社都发现了涉及众多利益相关者的许多问题，包括：员工、环境及其供应商，所有各方都在苹果产品的生产中受苦。然而，另一方面，这些工厂在经济上对这些国家起着重要作用。因为他们为技术水平很低的人提供就业机会，而且很可能支付比竞争对手更高的工资。此外，政府还促进对这些国家的外来投资，因为它们通过增加税收以及减少失业人数来为国家提供财政援助，从而减少了对政府生存的依赖。人力资源案例研究支持这一观点。总的来说，苹果要想对社会负责，他们确实需要解决已经提到的道德问题，因为最终他们只为一个国家提供优势和就业机会是不够的。在未来，环境可能会受到更多的破坏，这将使政府损失大量资金。
Part C:
This part is to outline why companies might possibly report on environmental responsibility, it is argued many only report on these issues for business case reasons. Furthermore an analysis on what is meant by the term business case will be made, through the use of differing definitions from a range of sources. Applying apple to principles to help understand why companies report on environmental issues and what impact business case reasons has on a company, this will give a greater understanding of the importance of business case, as it will give more personalised answers as Apple may have a differing situation/position to other companies. Also using an existing company to show proposed changes, will lead to a sustainable planet. Finally there will be an explanation on what is understood by the term “Greenwash”, using multiple references and also demonstrating how it distresses particular Stakeholders.
这一部分是为了概述为什么公司可能会报告环境责任，有人认为，许多公司只是出于商业案例的原因才报告这些问题。此外，还将通过使用来自一系列来源的不同定义，对商业案例一词的含义进行分析。将苹果应用于原则，以帮助理解公司为什么报告环境问题以及商业案例原因对公司的影响，这将使人们更加了解商业案例的重要性，因为它将提供更个性化的答案，因为苹果可能与其他公司的情况/立场不同。此外，利用现有公司展示拟议的变化，将导致一个可持续的地球。最后，将对“绿色洗涤”一词的含义进行解释，使用多个参考文献，并说明其对特定利益相关者的影响。
Companies that do things to reflect environmental responsibility but however only do them to in fact increase profitability, sales and even reduce waste to only reduce unit price of products, are only doing these things for business case reasons. Whereas if companies actually take a moral responsibility to environmental practices i.e. reduce their carbon emissions, they are doing this for ethical reasons instead of business case reasons. Therefore business case reasons highlight that companies only demonstrate an environmental policy to maintain a good reputation, however the practices they change/implement is done only to benefit themselves. However according to a report “beyond the business case” by Thomas Dyllick and Kai Hockerts they state “A single-minded focus on economic sustainability can succeed in the short run; however, in the long run sustainability requires all three dimensions to be satisfied simultaneously.” [9] This statement suggests those businesses that only concentrate on business case issues, intending to make changes to gain economic advantages; this will not benefit them in the long run. As mentioned they need to focus on all three dimensions which include; economic, ecological and social aspects.
那些为了反映环境责任而做的事情，但实际上只是为了提高盈利能力、销量，甚至减少浪费以降低产品单价的公司，只是出于商业原因才做这些事情。然而，如果企业实际上对环境实践承担道义责任，即减少其碳排放，那么他们这样做是出于道德原因，而不是商业案例原因。因此，商业案例的理由强调，公司只展示环境政策以保持良好的声誉，然而，他们改变/实施的做法只是为了使自己受益。然而，根据托马斯·迪利克和凯·霍克特的一份“超越商业案例”的报告，他们表示“专注于经济可持续性可以在短期内取得成功；然而，从长远来看，可持续性需要同时满足所有三个维度。”，打算做出改变以获得经济优势；从长远来看，这对他们没有好处。如上所述，他们需要关注所有三个方面，包括：；经济、生态和社会方面。
Therefore, for a business to be a success they need to take into account environmental and social issues. This statement links to Apple as evidence suggests that Apple heavily focuses on economic issues, however neglecting ecological and social issues, which affects a vast majority of Stakeholders, and the reputation of the business. A report called the ‘Other Side of Apple’ by the Friends of nature, the IPE and green Beagle (2011) identified many environmental issues within the company which affected many internal Stakeholders. For example in the Lain Jian factory they used an alcohol based solution to clean screens and other parts within the construction of their products. However Apple changed its process “In August, 2008, however, W (Suzhou) suddenly began requiring its employees to replace the alcohol-based cleaner with n-hexane. When interviewed, workers at the factory stated that n-hexane evaporated much more quickly than the alcohol-based cleaner, thereby increasing their efficiency rate.” [10] But controversially Apple didn’t recognise the dangers of this solution, by not reporting the change to the authorities this violated China‘s ―Law on the Prevention and Control of Occupational Diseases. Not only this, it affected the health of many employees in the company, as it is a poison it left many sick, as the chemical can cause unresponsiveness of limbs. “Many of the employees at Lian Jian Technology have been falling sick”, “According to hospital tests and the doctors ‘diagnosis, these employees ‘upper and lower peripheral nerves had been damaged” [11]
因此，企业要想成功，需要考虑环境和社会问题。这一声明与苹果公司有关，因为证据表明，苹果公司严重关注经济问题，但忽视了生态和社会问题，这影响了绝大多数利益相关者和企业声誉。自然之友、IPE和绿色小猎犬发布的一份名为“苹果的另一面”的报告指出了公司内部的许多环境问题，这些问题影响了许多内部利益相关者。例如，在莱因建工厂，他们使用基于酒精的解决方案来清洁屏幕和产品结构中的其他部件。然而，苹果改变了流程。”然而，2008年8月，W（苏州）突然开始要求员工用正己烷替换酒精基清洁剂。工厂的工人在接受采访时表示，正己烷的蒸发速度比酒精基清洁更快，从而提高了效率。“但有争议的是，苹果没有意识到这一解决方案的危险性，因为没有向当局报告这一变化违反了中国的《职业病防治法》。不仅如此，它还影响了公司许多员工的健康，因为它是一种有毒物质，导致许多人患病，因为这种化学物质会导致四肢无反应。“连健科技的许多员工都生病了”，“根据医院检测和医生的诊断，这些员工的上下周围神经受损”
This clearly shows major environmental and social issues in Apple, and how the importance of increased efficiency was more important, than ensuring the safety of its employees. A lot of employees form this incident decided to leave the company, as it was unsafe for them to work there. They received little compensation, and many of employees had to leave as they were given no other option, leaving them unemployed again and vulnerable as their skill set is minimal. Therefore Apples business case, really need altering as this undoubtedly demonstrates the importance of having all three dimensions (economical, ecological and social) as mentioned in the report “beyond the business case”.
这清楚地表明了苹果的主要环境和社会问题，以及提高效率的重要性比确保员工安全更重要。这起事件中的许多员工决定离开公司，因为他们在那里工作是不安全的。他们几乎得不到补偿，许多员工不得不离开，因为他们没有其他选择，这让他们再次失业，因为他们的技能水平很低。因此，苹果的商业案例确实需要改变，因为这无疑证明了报告中提到的“超越商业案例”的所有三个维度（经济、生态和社会）的重要性。
Greenwashing is a tool which a lot of major companies use to make them appear that they take responsibility for environmental issues, but in real terms they don’t; they only publish what they do to enhance their business reputation and brand image, which could possibly increase profitability and sales. It’s only done for self-interests. This is supported by a view from greenwashingindex.com as they state “It’s greenwashing when a company or organization spends more time and money claiming to be “green” through advertising and marketing than actually implementing business practices that minimize environmental impact. It’s whitewashing, but with a green brush.” [12]
绿色洗涤是一种工具，许多大公司用它来让他们看起来对环境问题负责，但实际上他们并没有；他们只发布他们为提高商业信誉和品牌形象所做的事情，这可能会提高盈利能力和销售额。这只是为了自己的利益。他们表示：“当一家公司或组织花费更多的时间和金钱通过广告和营销声称自己是“绿色”的，而不是实际实施将环境影响降至最低的商业实践时，这就是绿色清洗。这是粉刷，但用的是绿色的刷子。”
Overall from the evidence gathered about business case reasons, which are now known as actions that only benefit the company i.e. increased profits? Are a big tool used in companies, however this continuous approach to only look at economic advantages does not benefit companies in the long-run. As from the report ‘Other Side of Apple’ by the Friends of nature, the IPE and green Beagle, showed how they only focused on economic benefits through replacing a cleaning solution, which increased efficiency, however it led to huge pay-outs and loss of many employees, meaning large costs and a tattered reputation. This highlights that the view of needing to concentrate on all 3 dimensions, by Thomas Dyllick and Kai Hockerts is grossly important. This leads to the view of Greenwashing, many companies use this tool to appear environmentally involved, but only for self-interests, such as increased brand image and reputation, as well as the possibility of more sales. To conclude companies to succeed in the future need to really take on board the importance of environmental and social issues for them to be a success. As these responsibilities are becoming more important to consumers, and other Stakeholders in this day and age.
Essay从收集到的有关商业案例原因的证据来看，这些原因现在被称为只对公司有利的行为，即利润增加？是公司使用的一个重要工具，然而这种只关注经济优势的持续方法并不能从长远来看对公司有利。正如《自然之友》的报告《苹果的另一面》所述，IPE和达尔问自然求知社展示了他们如何通过更换清洁解决方案来关注经济效益，从而提高了效率，但这却导致了巨额支出和许多员工的损失，这意味着高昂的成本和支离破碎的声誉。这突出表明，托马斯·迪利克和凯·霍克茨认为，需要关注所有三个维度是非常重要的。这影响了Greenwashing的观点，许多公司使用这一工具来表现出环保意识，但只是为了自身利益，例如提高品牌形象和声誉，以及增加销售的可能性。要使公司在未来取得成功，就必须真正认识到环境和社会问题对公司成功的重要性。随着这些责任在当今时代对消费者和其他利益相关者越来越重要。本站提供各国各专业Essay代写或指导服务，如有需要可咨询本平台。