A Commentary on 'Corporate Responsibility to Respect Human Rights and Business Schools' Responsibility to Teach It'

In this commentary on "Corporate Responsibility to Respect Human Rights and Business Schools' Responsibility to Teach It" (McPhail 2013), the author discusses how McPhail's paper examines human rights teaching principles, the question of why corporations and business schools should respect and teach human rights, and how business responsibility and corporate governance education can contribute to accounting practice. Similarly, the paper highlights the disparate ideological positions that underpin the discourse on business and human rights and the failure of human rights discourse to make it into business schools, the accounting profession, and the discourse on corporate social responsibility (CSR). This commentary critiques how the author of the paper glosses over the "structural tensions" that mediate the relationship between society's concern over business' role in human rights violations and business' response to this concern. The author of this commentary points out areas of agreement in McPhail's project, and suggests ways in which his project could be improved. One suggestion is to incorporate a perspective on information that explicitly views human rights and sustainability disclosures as conduits of power. [This article is a response to McPhail, K. (2013) "Corporate Responsibility to Respect Human Rights and Business Schools' Responsibility to Teach It: Incorporating Human Rights into the Sustainability Agenda," "Accounting Education: An International Journal," 22(4), pp. 391-412. See EJ1108813.]