Developments in Accounting Education and Research: The Environmental Accounting - An Insight

Abstract:

The growing concern of civil society and the general public regarding companies’ environmental impacts creates a demand for measuring, monitoring, and screening, comparing and benchmarking the environmental performance of companies. Various approaches to this effect are used by companies; these approaches could be unambiguously regarded as a factor which, in the present conditions, influences prosperity of the company. The paper examined the overall concept of Environmental Accounting and as well identifies the specific companies’ approach to it. The study used the exploratory research designed to explain and highlight the importance of the concept of environmental accounting and the various approaches adopted by companies to recognize it. Secondary sources of data were employed; and very recent important literatures on environmental accounting were used to achieve the objective of the study. The research concluded that, Environmental accounting is an important tool for understanding the values and roles played by the natural environment in the economy. It recommended that pragmatic efforts should be taken by individual firms and companies, civil societies and organizations, regulatory bodies, policy makers and professional accounting bodies to ensure that environmental accounting is properly introduced, recognized and included in final accounting and financial statements needed by users of such information, which will go a long way in addressing the resources shortages needed to address the enormous problems and costs imposed by pollution and resources degradation.