Accounting for impact in NGOs – Social workers’ strategies of “making do” with standardisation
Journal
46th Annual Congress European Accounting Association [Working Paper]
Type
conference paper
Date Issued
2024-05-15
Author(s)
Abstract
With NGOs taking up an increasing share in development assistance by delivering essential social services to beneficiaries traditionally provided by the public sector, they maintain their public legitimacy and secure sufficient funding by following standardised accounting-for-impact practices. The accounting practices most prominently used in the industry are thereby intended to provide NGOs with objective metrics for measuring performance and reporting their social impact in primarily quantitative terms. This paper explores the tensions between the high institutional expectations attached to standardised accounting-for-impact and the practical challenges for social workers having to adapt those practices in their daily work. Drawing on a qualitative field study of a global NGO implementing “Results-Based Management”, the paper complements existing research on NGO accountability by telling the story of social workers finding a productive way of engaging with imposed accounting standardisation and their requirements to objectively report on their impact, i.e., by interpreting the accounting not only as a reporting tool but also as an internal vehicle for learning and performance management. Realising such productive potential is particularly relevant in light of concerns that measurement and attribution issues could push NGOs away from projects addressing grand social challenges because they only promise intangible impact or a performance difficult to represent in standardised, quantitative metrics. In reflecting on the divergence between the aspiration and the challenging reality of accounting-for-impact in social work, the paper closes by pointing out three sub-themes calling for further research.