Accounting and environmentalism: an exploration of the challenge of gently accounting for accountability, transparency and sustainability

Article Abstract:

How principles of the environmental position may be incorporated into accounting practices is analyzed. The accounting profession's potential for promoting organizational accountability and transparency is explored, along with the idea of how current accounting practices may be used to operationalize a sustainability accounting system. The deep green view of accounting requires the creation of accountability systems to promote deeper social relationshipsand greater transparency of organizations. One challenge for accountanting organizations is the development of local accountability information systems which would give communities access to information that concern them. The green position also calls for an accounting for sustainability to be created as a tool for informing organizational decision-makers of their firm's impact on the environment and for keeping the public informed as to how natural resources are being put to use.

Sustainable development

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Helping to pull our planet out of the red: an environmental report of BSO/Origin

Article Abstract:

BSO/Origin's position on environmental management is clearly articulated in the Dutch software company's 1990 annual report. Whereas other companies typically address environmental concerns within a few sentences or paragraphs in the director's report, BSO/Origin reserved a full section of its 1990 report for a detailed discussion of the company's views on the mutual relationship between economics and ecology and how this relationship may be measured. The software company sees the need for a shift in the focus of corporate accounting from strict financial reporting to an accounting system that seriously considers how the planet's resources are being utilized. Building on the value added concept of the marginal cost of emission-reducing actions, BSO/Origin has devised a technique for measuring its direct ecological effects. Pollution prevention is also heavily emphasized by the company.

Prepackaged software, Computer software industry, Software industry, Netherlands, Corporations, Environmental policy, Corporations, Dutch, BSO/Origin

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Bridging the gap between green accounting and the black ink

Article Abstract:

There is an increasing awareness in the field of accounting of the need to expand traditional financing accounting to include the environmental obligations of businesses. There are those in the field who believe that an environmental accounting system must be developed to account for the use of natural capital, such as air and water and all other assets vital for the sustenance of life on the planet. The shift from traditional accounting to green accounting will necessitate major changes in standard business practices. Companies will have to develop a new corporate mission, rethink their concept of corporate accountability and the accounting practices that go with it, and accept that the public has rights to the environment.

Analysis, Natural resources, Corporate social responsibility

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