• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
SAI

SAI

Advancing Human Rights at Work

Show Search
  • About
    • How We Work
    • Issue Areas
    • Our Team
    • Careers
    • Contact Us
  • Services
    • Corporate Programs
    • Audit Assurance
    • Social Fingerprint®
    • TenSquared
    • Training
  • Programs
  • News
  • Resource Library
  • Support SAI

Triple Bottom Line (TBL) Certification

Toward a common standard for measuring and reporting performance

What is Triple Bottom Line (TBL) Accounting?

Venn Diagram connecting images of society, environment, and economy

In traditional accounting, there is a single “bottom line,” an economic or financial one. Triple Bottom Line accounting broadens the scope of accounting to include social and environmental impacts as well. TBL accounting assesses the performance of organizations in terms of their impacts on all vital resources, not just one of them.

The three “bottom lines” in TBL accounting are:

  • Environmental — nature capitals
  • Economic — economic capitals)
  • Social — human, social, relationship, and constructed capitals

For all the talk of accountability in business, few organizations actually measure, manage, or report their performance in ways that fully account for impacts beyond economic ones.

What is the Certified TBL Accounting Standard?

Certified Triple Bottom Line logo

The world’s first and only certification for TBL accounting, Certified TBL is grounded in best practices and international standards. The Certified TBL credential recognizes and rewards organizations that systematically measure, manage, and report their performance in rigorous, context-based terms. It is a supplement to many existing reporting schemes and requirements, signifying that an organization is competently and completely measuring their impact across environmental, social, and economic capitals.

Certified TBL is based on the belief that while outcomes matter, authentic measurement must come first. The TBL Standard is being developed through a process of multi-stakeholder collaboration and feedback, incorporating the interests of key stakeholders. For organizations committed to measuring all of what matters with discipline and authenticity, Certified TBL offers both a method and a credential.


Subscribe to our Certified TBL Newsletter

Sign up to receive updates on our Certified TBL program to your inbox.
  • By submitting this form, you consent to receive marketing emails from Social Accountability International. You can revoke your consent to receive emails at any time by using the SafeUnsubscribe® link, found at the bottom of every email. Emails are serviced by Constant Contact.

Resources

Our partners at Center for Sustainable Organizations have assembled a collection of literature and resources related to Triple Bottom Line accounting and context-based reporting.

cover of book: the multicapital scorecard

Certified TBL Resources

The MultiCapital Scorecard “Only the second revolution in accounting since double-entry bookkeeping began, [multiple capital accounting] is of seismic proportions … The changes it will wreak are profound and far-reaching…


Partners

SAI Logo
Center for sustainable organizations logo

Related Programs

photo of man in forklift in factory

SA8000® Standard

SA8000® Standard About SA8000 The SA8000 Standard is the world’s leading social certification program. It…

photo of women sitting on grass talking

Living Wage

Living Wage A living wage meets a worker’s basic needs to maintain a safe, decent…

photo of machinery surrounded by palm trees

Palma Futuro

Palma Futuro Toward an ethical global palm oil industry Palma Futuro aims to build up…

Footer

Subscribe to the SAI Newsletter

Sign up to receive updates on SAI programs and events to your inbox.

Sign Up

Top Links

SA8000 Standard
SAI Training
Living Wage
Social Fingerprint
TenSquared

External Links

SAI Training Center
Social Accountability Accreditation Services (SAAS)
SAI Database
  • LinkedIn

Contact Us

Email: [email protected]

NYC Headquarters
9 East 37th Street; 10th Floor
New York, NY 10016
United States of America
Tel: +1 (212) 684-1414

Copyright © 2021 · Social Accountability International

  • Home
  • SAI Privacy Policy
  • SAI Terms of Service
  • Forms 990
  • SAI Logo Policies