Australian Business Excellence Framework
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In practical terms, Quadruple Bottom Line (QBL) accounting expands on the traditional reporting framework to capture a broader spectrum of values and criteria for measuring organisational performance and success:
*Environmental/Planet
*Social/People
*Economic/Profit
*Culture/Governance
Perhaps the most significant point here is that ‘values’ now gain consideration where once they either did not or were downplayed.
In early 2007, United Nations (UN) and International Association of Local Governments (ICLEI) ratified Triple Bottom Line accounting as the standard for urban and community accounting; this became the dominant approach to what we now describe as ‘public sector full cost accounting’.
ICLEI is a membership association of national, regional and local government associations that have made a unique commitment to sustainable development. It is made up of:
1076 local governments, representing over 400 million people worldwide:
In New Zealand:
*Auckland
*Christchurch
*Dunedin
*Environment Waikato
*Hamilton
*Kaikoura
*Kapiti Coast District
*Rodney
*South Wairarapa
TBL & QBL – The Concept
Instead of only considering profit when thinking about a business's bottom line, imagine taking into account its impact on people and the environment.
Many local business owners have stopped simply ‘imagining’ and have started practicing this idea.
It's a concept known as ‘Triple Bottom Line’ that Cathy Lehman, sustainable business practices and events manager for Sustainable Connections, describes as a “…form of management that takes into account the impact of a business's activities on people, planet and profit. The people component is also known as human capital and the planet component as natural capital”, she said.
What is TBL & QBL Reporting?
There is an increasing trend and demand for organisations to demonstrate transparency and accountability beyond the domains of financial performance.
Triple bottom line refers to the three elements of accountability:
*Social;
*Environmental
*Financial accountability
Quadruple bottom line reporting embraces a further component-governance. More broadly still is the emergence of sustainability reporting.
This seeks to more closely align reporting, underlying management practices and measures of corporate performance with the notion of sustainable development.
The Balanced Scorecard
The ‘Balanced Scorecard’ is a strategic management approach developed in the early 1990s by Dr Robert Kaplan of Harvard Business School, and Dr David Norton. Drs Kaplan and Norton describe the approach - "The balanced scorecard retains traditional financial measures.
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