Contemporary Environmental Accounting Issues

Contemporary Environmental Accounting: Issues, Concepts and Practice has been written by two of the world's leading experts in the field in order to provide the most comprehensive and state-of-the-art textbook on environmental accounting yet attempted. The book is suitable for both undergraduate and graduate students and their teachers, professional accountants, and corporate and organisational managers. Although no prior knowledge of environmental accounting is necessary to understand the critical issues at stake, academic accountants will also find that the book provides a useful introduction to the topic.

The goals of the book are to discuss and illustrate contemporary conceptual approaches to environmental accounting; to make readers aware of crucial controversial topics; and to offer practical examples of how the concepts have been applied throughout Europe, North America and Australia. In order to increase the usefulness of the book for relevant courses, each chapter concludes with a set of questions for review. This book is essential reading for all those who are interested in how environmental issues influence accounting.

Forewords: John Elkington, Chair, SustainAbility Ltd, Susan McLaughlin, US Environmental Protection Agency, Patrick Ponting FCPA, National President, Australian Society of CPAs, Dr Claude Martin, Director General, WWF International, and Stig Enevoldsen, Chairman, International Accounting Standards Committee

Dr Stefan Schaltegger was appointed a full Professor of Management and Business Economics at the University of Lueneburg, Germany, in 1999. Between 1996 and 1998 he was an Assistant Professor of Economics at the Center of Economics and Management (WWZ) at the University of Basel, Switzerland, where in 1998 he became an Associate Professor of Business Administration. His research areas include corporate environmental accounting and environmental information management, sustainable finance, sustainable entrepreneurship, stakeholder management, environmental and spatial economics and the integration of environmental management and economics. Stefan is a member of a number of international editorial boards and committees associated with business and environment interrelationships and has presented papers and lectured widely throughout Europe. He also spent one year as Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Washington, Seattle, USA.

Roger Burritt, BA (Jt Hons.) (Lancaster, UK), M. Phil. (Oxford, UK), FCPA (Australia), CA (Australia), ACIB (London, UK), is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Commerce at The Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra, Australia, where environmental and management accounting are his main areas of research and teaching. He is also the International Co-ordinator of the ANU's Asia Pacific Centre for Environmental Accountability (APCEA) -- a networking group for people with an interest in environmental accounting and accountability. APCEA has branches in Argentina, Australia, China, Japan and New Zealand.


	Contemporary Environmental Accounting Issues, Concepts and Practice Prof. Dr Stefan Schaltegger, University of Luneburg, Germany, and Roger Burritt, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia October 2000 \| 462pp \| Paperback \| 156 x 234mm ISBN 1 874719 35 7 \| £19.95 US$40.00

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*Contemporary Environmental Accounting: Issues, Concepts and Practice* has been written by two of the world's leading experts in the field in order to provide the most comprehensive and state-of-the-art textbook on environmental accounting yet attempted. The book is suitable for both undergraduate and graduate students and their teachers, professional accountants, and corporate and organisational managers. Although no prior knowledge of environmental accounting is necessary to understand the critical issues at stake, academic accountants will also find that the book provides a useful introduction to the topic. The goals of the book are to discuss and illustrate contemporary conceptual approaches to environmental accounting; to make readers aware of crucial controversial topics; and to offer practical examples of how the concepts have been applied throughout Europe, North America and Australia. In order to increase the usefulness of the book for relevant courses, each chapter concludes with a set of questions for review. This book is essential reading for all those who are interested in how environmental issues influence accounting. Back to the Top In this key resource, Stefan Schaltegger and Roger Burritt provide not only early elements of a lingua franca but also a clear, professional set of briefings on an extraordinary range of issues, from contingent environmental liabilities and tradable emission allowances to eco-asset sheets and stakeholder involvement . . . the book as a whole will handsomely repay study both by business people and by the growing range of individuals, organisations and institutions who companies are coming to consider as stakeholders. I suspect that this will soon be among the best-thumbed books in my own collection. John Elkington, Chairman, SustainAbility Ltd; Chairman, Environmental and Social Accounting Committee, UK Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA); Member, EU Consultative Forum on Sustainable Development Better information flows are essential for supporting companies' total quality management, eco-efficiency, sustainable development and environmental reporting initiatives. This book contains extensive discussions of the possibilities for boosting such initiatives through environmental accounting. Readers will come away with a much better understanding of the myriad of issues and opportunities that lie in improving the flow of financial and ecological information in firms. Susan McLaughlin, US Environmental Protection Agency, Environmental Accounting Project Schaltegger and Burritt can be credited with highlighting in their text the importance for management of the link between value added and environmental impact added as a general definition of eco-efficiency. . . This book makes a valuable contribution to the corporate sector's gradual adoption of environmental accounting systems which will allow us to measure how heavily we tread on the planet and thus learn to live within the capacity of its ecosystems. Claude Martin, Director General, World Wide Fund for Nature Schaltegger and Burritt's book is an important and timely contribution to the ongoing quest for new forms of corporate disclosure which integrate financial, environmental and social reporting. Patrick Ponting, National President, CPA Australia It is important that environmental accounting and environmental reporting are researched and developed to improve the usefulness of the information supplied to investors. And it is important that guidelines of a global nature are developed and included in future financial reporting. This book addresses how to develop accounting systems and an accounting model with such aims in mind. Stig Enevoldsen, Chairman, International Accounting Standards Committee; Partner, Deloitte & Touche, Copenhagen The development of key performance indicators for sustainable development will provide the logical framework for setting targets and driving continuous improvement across operations and for developing standards of reporting and verification. . . Contemporary Environmental Accounting provides an important link between environmental and financial performance and paves the way for the more difficult task of accounting for social/ethical conduct. Andy Oliver, Vice-President, Health, Safety and Environment, Shell International Back to the Top Reviews ... as a reference text and as a text to stimulate and to prompt us into other ways of thinking, this book is a really substantial addition to the literature and deserves very serious attention. *Social and Environmental Accounting* The authors have compiled and structured the existing concepts of environmental accounting very thoroughly ... The book addresses students, controllers and business leaders equally. Although the structure helps readers without any prior knowledge of environmental accounting to get an overview, the book also provides a compendium for experts who want to look up something ... the book is therefore a clear buy. *Ökologisches Wirtschaften* ... two of the world’s foremost experts on the subject have come together to write the definitive book on environmental accounting. Engaging and accessible, this book is suitable for academics and professionals alike. *World Resources Institute’s Envirolink* Newsletter It provides a comprehensive and well structured overview. Corporate Environmental Strategy** In essence, this book is essential reading for all those who are interested in how environmental issues influence accounting. Sustain magazine This is a new and welcome addition to the growing material on environmental accounting ... whilst hardly the lightest of topics the writers manage to break down the concepts into fairly user-friendly form, drawing out principal ways for incorporating environmental elements into accounting systems. Connections — UNED Forum Quarterly Newsletter ... it is a book worth taking seriously ... Anyone who is not sure of what is meant by ‘eco-efficiency’ will be hard pressed to find a better explanation ... In particular, there is good, balanced discussion of life cycle assessment as the most common model in use in environmental information management, and how it might be improved to make it a more effective and efficient management tool ... this book is an invaluable resource for anyone who is involved or interested in how accounting is influenced by environmental issues. *Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management* Back to the Top Contents Forewords: John Elkington, Chair, SustainAbility Ltd, Susan McLaughlin, US Environmental Protection Agency, Patrick Ponting FCPA, National President, Australian Society of CPAs, Dr Claude Martin, Director General, WWF International, and Stig Enevoldsen, Chairman, International Accounting Standards Committee 1 Purpose and structure Questions Part 1: Introduction and Framework 2 The emergence of environmental accounting 2.1 Overview 2.2 Reasons for emergence 2.4 Changing cost relations 2.5 Poorly co-ordinated collection of environmental data Questions for review 3 The purpose of managing environmental information 3.1 Environmental information as purpose-oriented knowledge 3.2 Necessary objective 3.3 Sustainable development 3.4 Corporate eco-efficiency 3.5 The relation between sustainable development and eco-efficiency 3.6 Enhancing corporate sustainability and eco-efficiency as the purpose of environmental accounting 3.7 Further goals of environmental accounting 3.8 Information requirements to operationalise corporate sustainability and eco-efficiency Questions for review 4 The environmental accounting framework 4.1 The structural framework 4.2 Stakeholders influencing the agenda of environmental accounting Questions for review Part 2: Environmental Issues in Conventional Accounting 5 Overview, criticism and advantages of conventional accounting 5.1 Overview 5.2 Criticism and advantages of conventional accounting 5.3 Accounting for environmentally induced financial impacts Questions for review 6 Environmental management accounting 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Consideration of benefits and costs with regard to sustainable development and eco-efficiency 6.3 Current methods of environmental cost accounting 6.4 The tracking and tracing of environmental costs 6.5 Allocation of environmentally induced costs 6.6 Consideration of environmentally induced financial effects in investment appraisal 6.7 The balanced scorecard 6.8 Summary Questions for review 7 Environmental issues in financial accounting and reporting 7.1 Introduction 7.2 Stakeholders influence financial accounting 7.3 Environmentally induced costs: assets or expenses? 7.4 Treatment of environmentally induced expenses 7.5 Treatment of environmentally induced financial impacts on assets 7.6 Treatment of liabilities 7.7 Treatment of tradable emission allowances 7.8 The management's discussion and analysis 7.9 Summary Questions for review 8 Environmental shareholder value and environmental issues in other accounting systems 8.1 Introduction 8.2 Standardisation of financial reporting and the value of information for investors 8.3 Approach, advantages, and disadvantages of the shareholder value concept 8.4 How does environmental management influence shareholder value? 8.5 Consequences for environmental management 8.6 Summary Questions for review Part 3: Ecological Accounting 9 Overview and emergence 9.1 The main approaches to managing environmental information 9.2 The emergence of LCA and ecological accounting Questions for review 10 The efficiency of approaches to environmental information management 10.1 Environmental information as subject matter of measurement 10.2 General considerations and model 10.3 Evaluation of the eco-efficiency of the present approach to product life-cycle assessment (LCA) Questions for review 11 Internal ecological accounting 11.1 Introduction 11.2 Basic procedures and their historical development 11.3 Definition of accounts and recording 11.4 Aggregation 11.5 Impact assessment Questions for review 12 External ecological accounting and reporting of environmental impacts 12.1 Stakeholders, regulations and incentives 12.2 Effects of current regulations that require the reporting of environmental impacts 12.3 Conventions of ecological accounting 12.4 Consolidation 12.5 Summary Questions for review Part 4: Integration 13 Integration with eco-efficiency indicators 13.1 Overview 13.2 Convergence of economic and environmental interests 13.3 Integration of information management systems 13.4 Developing eco-efficiency indicators 13.5 Benchmarking 13.6 Limits and important criteria 13.7 Summary and implications Questions for review 14 Integrating eco-efficiency-oriented information management into the corporate environmental management system 14.1 Introduction 14.2 Standards of corporate environmental management 14.3 Methods of corporate environmental management 14.4 Management eco-control 14.5 Summary of this chapter Questions for review 15 Summary About the authors Dr Stefan Schaltegger was appointed a full Professor of Management and Business Economics at the University of Lueneburg, Germany, in 1999. Between 1996 and 1998 he was an Assistant Professor of Economics at the Center of Economics and Management (WWZ) at the University of Basel, Switzerland, where in 1998 he became an Associate Professor of Business Administration. His research areas include corporate environmental accounting and environmental information management, sustainable finance, sustainable entrepreneurship, stakeholder management, environmental and spatial economics and the integration of environmental management and economics. Stefan is a member of a number of international editorial boards and committees associated with business and environment interrelationships and has presented papers and lectured widely throughout Europe. He also spent one year as Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Washington, Seattle, USA. Roger Burritt, BA (Jt Hons.) (Lancaster, UK), M. Phil. (Oxford, UK), FCPA (Australia), CA (Australia), ACIB (London, UK), is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Commerce at The Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra, Australia, where environmental and management accounting are his main areas of research and teaching. He is also the International Co-ordinator of the ANU's Asia Pacific Centre for Environmental Accountability (APCEA) -- a networking group for people with an interest in environmental accounting and accountability. APCEA has branches in Argentina, Australia, China, Japan and New Zealand.