ABSTRACT

Environmental accounting is a specific type of accounting which brings together monetary and physical information to (i) provide support for decision-making by managers, and (ii) facilitate accountability through feedback from reports made to internal and external stakeholders (Burritt, Hahn, and Schaltegger 2002). Accounting supports decision-making processes. Accounting involves collecting, recording, classifying, and reporting purposeorientated information, predominantly in monetary units, and is often based on physical information, such as items of semi-manufactured products, production schedules, or kilograms of raw materials (Schaltegger and Burritt 2000). The accounting process can also provide an important foundation for improving the environmental records of businesses, for example in relation to making transparent cost and environmental savings from the reduction of waste. The provision of monetary and physical information to management and external stakeholders about the environmental impacts of business and the financial consequences of environmentally relevant business activities is expressed by the term ‘corporate environmental accounting’ (Schaltegger and Burritt 2000).