Accounting for Corporate Responsibility

PricewaterhouseCoopers, one of the largest accounting firms in the world, announced two added approaches to furthering its corporate responsibility efforts.

First, the firm wants to show that one person can make a difference. It launched a program called Project Make [it] Count in the hopes of encouraging its employees to demonstrate responsible leadership. The company invited employees to come up with a community service project that would make a positive impact on the four pillars that make up the firm's corporate responsibility strategy: the marketplace, people, their community and the environment.

Among the hundreds of entries they received, 23 were randomly selected, and each of those individuals received $450 in seed money to get their projects off the ground. That amount was meant to represent what people spend in a typical month on coffee, cab rides, or work-related parking costs. That way, employees can see if they make small changes in their lives — like taking public transportation or making coffee at home — they can use the money they've saved to help others.

The other program is a new initiative for flexible work. It gives employees the opportunity to take partially paid sabbaticals of up to 16 weeks to "pursue community, educational and personal interests." They can also take advantage of reduced work weeks during the fall as well as "Flexible Fridays" throughout the summer, where people are allowed to compress work weeks and use some Fridays to take time off.

To read journals or see photos and videos of some of the Project Make [it] Count projects, go to the website.