Abstract
This article aims to examine the accountability that social welfare corporations should have to their multiple stakeholders to perform in the public interest from the viewpoint of multi-stakeholder (MSH) theory adopted by European social enterprises and co-operatives. The purpose of this article also is to examine the possibility of a social balance sheet as a system to evaluate the public interest of social welfare corporations through the concept of "social accountability." A social balance sheet is a mechanism to limit biased allocation of wealth and value, to inform stakeholders, and to ensure accountability. Accountability was first explained to the multiple stakeholders in social welfare corporations, i.e. welfare personnel, clients (including recipients), the local community, and government personnel. Next, the validity of using a social balance sheet to evaluate social welfare corporations was determined. The acquisition of control of social welfare corporations from the outside based on an MSH approach represents a new system to ensure the proper expenditure of public funds, adequacy of internal reserves, and transparency of management. This new system offers valuable insight into the future management of social welfare corporations. A process is needed to devise more practical approaches suited to social welfare corporations in Japan.
