The acculturation of social auditing in Aotearoa : some preliminary findings

A relentless drive to transform the not for profit sector in the image of the private sector has spawned a mechanistic new manageralism, which values only that which can be counted. Social auditing, a technology promoted by the New Economics Foundation(U.K.), offers an opportunity for the not-for-profit sector in Aotearoa, New Zealand (NZ) to take charge of its own destiny by measuring organizational impact in terms of the organization’s values. Predicated on the notion of multiple stakeholders and multiple accountabilities, the process advocates for all stakeholders to be informed and involved in assessing the impact of an organization in its most holistic sense. This paper examines the initial findings of a pilot project which seeks to adapt the social audit model for use in not-for-profits in Aotearoa, NZ. The paper traces the early developments of the social auditing pilot project in Aotearoa, NZ and discuss the potential usefulness as a means of valuing the impact of not-for-profits in Aotearoa, NZ. The applicability of the technology and issues of cultural adaptability are explored and potential strategies for practice are developed