Environmental Accounting: Problems And Importance

Environmental accounting: problems and importance

Environmental accounting is a set of instruments and systems that serve us to measure, review and disseminate the company’s environmental action;This integrates both fiscal and economic information with the ultimate purpose of positioning the company in terms of ecological efficiency. It also expresses that eco -efficiency is achieved by increasing the value of the company, while reducing the use of resources and negative environmental impacts.

On the other hand, The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (2002) argues that ecological efficiency is achieved through the delivery of goods and services, at prices that can compete and meet the needs of man, progressively reducing the ecological impacts.

According to the Environmental Forum Foundation “Environmental Accounting can be defined as the generation, analysis and use of financial and non -financial information aimed at integrating the company’s economic and environmental policies and building a sustainable company”.

Environmental accounting models are composed of the same elements as financial, social, administrative and governmental accounting models, but their model must be aimed at environmental aspects.

In addition, Senés and Rodríguez point out that these points of view are not always fulfilled. There are environmental accounting regulations in which its elements developed in these regulations do not correspond to the information needs in environmental matters;that is, the elements are not suitable for producing important, useful and relevant information to make decisions regarding social and environmental sustainability.

This situation is shown because environmental concerns are, in a way, recent (three decades) and the articulation between accounting and the environment is attached to emerging developments, even under construction.

Problem

Companies, like society and the economy, must show a new relationship with the environment, through their financial statements. To carry out this purpose, you must use environmental accounting, but we find that the conceptual structure of conventional accounting has relevant limitations to correctly show this relationship between the company and the natural environment.

The lack of regulation that regulates the environmental issue in accounting terms produces quality problems and amount of information. In recent years, the rules that have been established in a generalized way by many countries are IAS/IFRS standards. The most important problem of environmental accounting is that in most cases, costs can neither separate or attribute specific processes or products.

In addition, that the period in which the polluting effect occurs and in which decontamination occurs (generating costs) does not usually coincide. Another problem is that it is very difficult to have a unique environmental accounting system and accepted by all types of companies, due to the operation so different from some sectors with others.

Given the two possible alternatives to face the problem of the environment, it has been proven that the best option is to develop its own conceptual framework for this discipline, building a balance and an environmental results account, since the first option does not provide complete information to theUsers.

Importance

The accounting of the environment in the context of national accounting will try not only to assign economic values to environmental impacts, or to exhaustKnow the environmental heritage as a stock, as well as its possible evolution, hence the need to have an environmental inventory or status that guides public administrations and reports users in general.

Hence, it is so important that public administrations and private companies, especially in industrial activities, realize how they are applying the rules that exist in this regard for environmental protection. Now, for example, some of the big companies in Peru such as Plaza Vea, Tottus, Metro, etc., They have implemented environmental policies, such as the elimination of plastic bags and being replaced by other materials.

Banks and other financial corporations have chosen to send accounts and other communications of interest to their respective clients, via the Internet, (where customer identification is required), avoiding excessive paper consumption that greatly affectsNature to extract the cellulose from trees.