Score: 81%
, 9 votes,
Feasibility 83%
Originality 83%
Humour 23% The Problem
The leakage of social economy money into the hands of private sector accountantsThe Social Invention
The social economy displays a lot of rhetoric about shared values and working together. Sometimes the rhetoric is more prevalent than the action. We need to recognise however, that as a sector we leak money into the private sector all the time. Most commonly, this is for professional services including audit and accounting fees. Why can't we establish professional services firms set up as membership co-ops which could then provide all the required corporate governance and audit/accountancy services?Set up as a double bottom line social enterprise with a "more than profit" attitude, organisational needs would be met but profits would be retained within the co-op's membership. The advantages are not just financial. The co-op would display the values of the sector and services could be designed to meet member needs rather than just be about compliance matters that most boards are not interested in other than to recognise that they are a legal requirement
The Author
| Declan Jones (Declan Jones) | Authors Comments |
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Your Comments (1)
johnm | 29 May '05 21:23
Subject: You can't have an auditor coop
While you could carry out a number of accounting functions within a coop structure you wouldn't be able to carry out audit work and similar. Auditors can't use the coop structure and there is also the issue of independence in a member coop.
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Subject: You can't have an auditor coop
While you could carry out a number of accounting functions within a coop structure you wouldn't be able to carry out audit work and similar. Auditors can't use the coop structure and there is also the issue of independence in a member coop.