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Contemporary Environmental Accounting: Issues, Concepts and Practice has been written in order to provide an up-to-date textbook in the rapidly developing field of environmental accounting. The book is suitable for both undergraduate and graduate students and their teachers, professional accountants, and corporate and organizational managers. Although no prior knowledge of environmental accounting is necessary to understand the critical issues at stake, academic accountants should 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 relevant for all those who are interested in how environmental issues influence accounting.
Forewords by John Elkington, SustainAbility Ltd; Susan McLaughlin, US Environmental; Protection Agency; Patrick Ponting, Australian Society of Certified Practising Accountants; Claude Martin, World Wide Fund for Nature; Stig Enevoldsen, International Accounting Standards Committee; and Andy Oliver, Shell International; 1. Purpose and Structure; Part 1: Introduction and framework; 2. The Emergence of environmental accounting; 3. The purpose of managing environmental information; 4. The environmental accounting framework; Part 2: Environmental issues in conventional accounting; 5. Overview, criticism and advantages of conventional accounting; 6. Environmental management accounting; 7. Environmental issues in financial accounting and reporting; 8. Environmental shareholder value and environmental issues in other accounting systems; Part 3: Ecological accounting; 9. Overview and emergence of life-cycle assessment and ecological accounting; 10. The efficiency of approaches to environmental information management; 11. Internal ecological accounting; 12. External ecological accounting and reporting of environmental impacts; Part 4: Integration; 13. Integrating with eco-efficiency indicators; 14. Integrating eco-efficiency-oriented information management into the corporate environmental management system; 15. Summ
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.
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. '... 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.' Okologisches 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.
