The Overlooked factor in Social Disclosure Studies: Credit Union Social Accountability

Social Accountability: the overlooked factor in Credit Union Disclosure

With the quality of Accounting Disclosure having gained importance over decades now, there has been a paradigm shift towards Social Disclosure. Many researchers have examined Social Disclosure for various organizations, majority of who are large, or listed firms in developed, developing and less developed economies.

Apparently, one group of organizations has consistently been overlooked: CREDIT UNIONS. Credit unions exhibit that “social face” in the society which cannot be overlooked. Their very own creation, objectives and activities have a social bearing. Credit unions mobilize savings from their membership, provide loans to their members, contribute to the societal welfare by promoting the general economic well-being of their membership and the societies in which they operate, and many other contributions to the social good. All these demonstrate how important credit unions are in furthering social accountability. And this cannot be OVERLOOKED!

In this article, I highlight 5 key areas where credit union social disclosure should be focused towards as demonstrated below:

                                     Credit Union Social Pillars

With reference to the social pillars, it may seem that for Credit Unions, promoting member welfare should be placed number one in terms of priority. However, this may not always be the case in a sector which has experienced growth in operations, products and the human capital. With the recent conversions by Credit Unions into "bank-like" activities, the focus on that traditional common bond within a Credit Union's membership is likely to degenerate (and thus, the Degeneration Thesis by Cornforth [http://eid.sagepub.com/content/16/4/487.refs] will prevail). 

The implications of the changed landscape is that Credit unions should strive to uphold Social Accountability, along with Financial Accountability as both are equally important. Credit Unions should be seen as what is traditionally referred to as : Social Citizens"!

Author: David Mathuva