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Accounting for modern slavery risk in the time of COVID-19: challenges and opportunities

Katherine Leanne Christ (UniSA Business, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia)
Roger Leonard Burritt (Fenner School of Environment and Society, College of Science, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia)

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal

ISSN: 0951-3574

Article publication date: 9 March 2021

Issue publication date: 23 July 2021

6542

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine how the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic affects corporate modern slavery accounting, auditing and accountability, and how a business can take advantage of this situation to ensure a more robust and effective modern slavery response in the long-term.

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing on recent literature and available statistics about modern slavery in the context of COVID-19 comment is provided on the challenges and opportunities for researchers and business.

Findings

Given the additional invisibility of modern slavery in a COVID-19 environment as victims move into unemployment and back into vulnerable positions where they are exploited the challenge is how accounting, auditing and accountability can help business break this cycle. Capabilities for business to track and trace victims of modern slavery will be reduced because of the pandemic. Opportunities exist for gathering data and building internal awareness about the problem of modern slavery in supply chains and to reassess operational risk and investment in modern slavery reduction. With the pause in external reporting opportunity exists to obtain views of external stakeholders.

Research limitations/implications

Because of the relatively short period of the COVID-19 pandemic to date, numeric data on impacts are largely unavailable.

Originality/value

This is the first paper to consider the challenges and opportunities of COVID-19 on accounting for modern slavery in business. Directions for future research are also considered.

Keywords

Citation

Christ, K.L. and Burritt, R.L. (2021), "Accounting for modern slavery risk in the time of COVID-19: challenges and opportunities", Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 34 No. 6, pp. 1484-1501. https://doi.org/10.1108/AAAJ-08-2020-4726

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited

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