Financial Management: Social Agency, Social Enterprise and Social Economy
Author's preprint.
Abstract
There has been a quiet revolution in financial management practice in social agencies in recent decades, symbolized by the transition from fund to enterprise accounting and increasing recognition of the ‘third sector’ of the social economy. The traditional voluntary agency model of donations has been joined by grants, performance contracts, ‘managed care’ and an array of other options, and traditional voluntary agency-based and public agency practice now exist alongside corporate for profit service delivery and various forms of private practice. Social enterprise and entrepreneurship are a common theme in all this diversity, as social agencies must aggressively seek out financial support. In this environment, two models of budgeting, termed ‘common-pool’ and social enterprise budgeting have emerged.