Social Value UK

Document Type: wider reading

Supplementary Guidance on Stakeholder Involvement

This guidance is designed for organisations working with their stakeholders and for those advising or retained as external consultant to organisations. Although organisations will normally have a good understanding of their stakeholders, it is often the case that the organisations do not have an understanding of the relationship between their activities and the outcomes experienced by stakeholders (the theory of change).

The guidance should be read in conjunction with the Guide to SROI. It expands the information in Stage 1 Establishing Scope and Identifying Stakeholders. The guidance assumes that you have already made a start at identifying your stakeholders although stakeholder involvement may mean you will need to revise your understanding.

12/08/2021
Maximise Your Impact – A Guide for Social Entrepreneurs

The Maximise Your Impact guide was developed within “Know Your Impact: Social Impact Management Tools for Young Social Entrepreneurs” by Estonian Social Enterprise Network, Koç University Social Impact Forum, Mikado Sustainable Development Consulting and Social Value UK. The “Know Your Impact: Social Impact Management Tools for Young Social Entrepreneurs” is funded by Erasmus + programme of the European Union.

“This guide is brilliant. I run several social enterprises and advise lots of others and have a background in social research and think this is the best impact guide I’ve read. It’s clear, not patronising, practical, intelligent. I shall be recommending widely. Thanks to all involved.“
Jessica Prendergast, Onion Collective

23/10/2017
Quantifying the Impact of Investment in Education

There is plenty of research which argues that, overall, education leads to better outcomes for individuals and society. However, accounting for the specific social, economic and environmental outcomes from an investment in education remains a challenge, not only for governments, but also for any organisation which runs or invests in education programmes or initiatives. Without this information, it is difficult to make choices between different ways in which these outcomes can be achieved, and how best to design and deliver education activities.The objective of this paper is to review some of the available research and provide guidance on how it can be used.

02/10/2017
A Discussion Document on the Valuation of Social Outcomes

There is growing recognition and interest in the valuation of social outcomes, and Social Value International (SVI) and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) convened a meeting of experts to further the debate. This document is the result of the result of the meeting in September 2015 that took place in the Bellagio Center on Lake Como in Italy, and was sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation. The meeting brought together 22 individuals from a range of sectors and countries to discuss the variety of valuation techniques, their relationship to one another, and how they can be mapped and brought together with clearer guidance. This report is the result of the global meeting, and is designed to garner cross-sector discussion and alignment – with a particular focus on the assigning of monetary values to social outcomes. We hope you enjoy the document, that it adds to the ongoing debate and discussion around these important issues.

19/09/2017
Making up users – An essay

Within recent years, financial statement users have been accorded great significance by accounting standard-setters. In the United States, the conceptual framework maintains that a primary purpose of financial statements is to provide information useful to investors and creditors in making their economic decisions. Contemporary accounting textbooks unproblematically posit this purpose for accounting. Yet, this emphasis is quite recent and occurred despite limited knowledge about the information needs and decision processes of actual users of financial statements. This paper unpacks the taken-for-grantedness of the primacy of financial statement users in standard-setting and considers their use as a category to justify and denigrate particular accounting disclosures and practices. It traces how particular ideas about financial statement users and their connection to accounting standard setting have been constructed in various documents and reports including the conceptual framework and accounting standards.

08/08/2016
Three Eyes on the Future – An essay

The ICAS Sustainability Essay Competition, sponsored by Grant Thornton, attracted nearly 90 entries competing for a cash prize of £3,000. The overall winner was Dave Marshall of Newton St Margarets, Herefordshire, who argues that accountancy should escape from its Victorian viewpoint and embrace a sustainable future.

08/08/2016