Course

Mandatory

Read about the Master Programme and find the Study Regulations at ruc.dk

You register for activities through stads selvbetjening during the announced registration period, which you can see on the Study administration homepage.

When registering for courses, please be aware of the potential conflicts and overlaps between course and exam time and dates. The planning of course activities at Roskilde University is based on the recommended study programmes, which should not overlap. However, if you choose optional courses and/or study plans that goes beyond the recommended study programmes, an overlap of lectures or exam dates may occur depending on which courses you choose.

The objective of the course is for students to learn about social enterprises' management and documentation of their social and environmental added value. Social value is subject of much discussion and debate. Methods for measuring it as well as social and sustainability accounting systems are established, and becoming more advanced. This is not only important for social entrepreneurs, but also for social investors, companies, and enterprises who want to integrate a social and sustainability agenda, giving greater awareness to social and environmental value in addition to the financial. This course creates an understanding of these issues and teaches the students to distinguish between and critically reflect on methods and new social and sustainability accounting techniques such as social return on investment, social impact measurements, ESG, and balanced scorecard.

The objective of the course is for students to learn about social entreprises' management and documentation of their social and environmental added value. Social value is subject of much discussion and debate. Methods for measuring it as well as social and sustainability accounting systems are established and becoming more advanced. This is not only important for social entrepreneurs, but also for social investors, companies and enterprises who want to integrate a sustainability agenda, giving greater awareness to social and environmental value in addition to the financial. This course creates an understanding of these issues and teaches the students to distinguish between and critically reflect on methods and new social and sustainability accounting techniques such as social return on investment, ESG, and balanced scorecard.

• Themes: Legitimacy and the role of social accounting in shaping a field
• Challenges, principles and approaches to measuring social and sustainability value
• Approaches to measuring social value and their role in evaluation methods
• Techniques of social return on investment, ESG, and balanced scorecard
• The market for social finance and its stakeholders
• Evaluation methods and philosophies
• Central questions and problems – Critical perspectives on what is social and sustainability value and what methods can be used to measure it
• Purposes: To develop a critical understanding of theories, methods, and practices of measuring social value.
• Methods: lectures, critical reading & presentations, class exercises and small group discussions, conducting a social return on investment evaluation, and other evaluations;
• Concepts, theories: Linked to themes above.
• Data, materials: Readings prior to class; case-based exercises

There is in total approximately 680-700 pages of reading for the course, i.e. aorund 85 pages reading preparation per lecture. The reading list will be available on Moodle.

Study intensity

The course is a 5 ECTS course and has a total of 135 working hours for students. This includes all activities, such as participation in class, preparation, reading and exam.

Calculation of expected work:

• Teaching hours: 8 sessions of 4 hours each, in total 32 teaching hours

• Preparation, including reading for 8 sessions: 100 hours. Preparation for each for the 8 classes: 8.5 hours. In total: approximately 680-700 pages of reading for the course in its entirety.

• Exam: Oral exam with preparation of a drafted case to be discussed and analysed. 25 minutes for preparation including drafting a case. 25 minutes for exam including assessment and feedback.

• Oral evaluation in class and individual survey: 1 hour

Teaching and learning activities

• In class teaching
• Working with cases
• Class Exercises
• Presentations
• Peer feedback
• Homework individually

The course involves both lecturer and peer feedback during course activities. The course is furthermore evaluated with an individual survey and an oral group evaluation at the last session of the course.

After completing this course, students will be able to:

• Assess, discuss and distinguish between various social and sustainability accounting techniques and methods in relation to social enterprises

• Critically assess and discuss how social enterprises manage and measure social and sustainability value and social impacts

• Reflect upon and discuss the societal and market context for the emergence of social and sustainability accounting techniques.

• Plan and carry out analyses of the use of social and sustainability accounting tools and techniques in relation to specific examples.

• Critically discuss and assess potentials and challenges in terms of measuring social and sustainability value.

The examination begins with the student presenting their reflections from preparation time, followed by a conversation about the case example, lead by the examiner.

The assessment criteria will be used to assess the degree to which the student demonstrates knowledge, understanding and skills regarding the learning outcomes and themes of the course, both with regard to their analysed case and to their discussion of issues arising from that analysis, in the following respects :

• Critical analysis of the case in question

• Critical discussion of the main concepts from the course

• Present and discuss different social and sustainability accounting techniques

• Applying relevant theories and social accounting tools and techniques drawn from the course literature

• Relate theory to practice

• Present coherent and substantiated arguments

Use of generative AI aids in the exam

The use of generative artificial intelligence (GAI) is not permitted for the oral exam, including during any potential preparation time. This means that any personal notes or written presentations must be produced without the use of generative AI.

The use of generative artificial intelligence (GAI) must always take place within the framework of Roskilde University's ‘Guidelines for using generative artificial intelligence in written exams. Read the guidelines here.