It is naive to think that the choices policies, particularly at the macro level, are geared towards protecting the interests of the community. The first interest protected is that of economic power, and then move forward if resources get the rest. View that adjectives such as "moral" and "ethical" do not have much power in the rooms that matter, is to welcome the concept of "environmental accounting", which brings seemingly distant worlds and the conflicting interests as the economy and environment .
The term "environmental accounting " has the following three meanings depending on the context in which it is applied:
- environmental accounting in the context of national accounts: refers to the natural resource accounting, which may include statistics on national or regional level in terms of: costs, capacity, quality and value of natural resources, whether renewable that non-renewable
- environmental accounting in the context of financial accounting: typically refers to the preparation of financial reports directed to external audiences whose construction is based on Generally Accepted Accounting Principles;
- environmental accounting as an aspect of managerial accounting: is used by managers to make capital budgeting decisions, for the determination of costs, the decisions of the process or product design, for performance evaluation and decision making forward-looking strategy.
In the first sense of the term, major projects have also been made in the Italian reality. (see http://ww4.comune.fe.it/clear-life/ , Emilia Romagna trooooppo is always on ...).
are particularly interesting from my point of view the second and third point, which they see as a set of corporate accounting practices of management accounting information with which to incorporate environmental costs and benefits in decision making processes of the company.
Historically, companies do not take into consideration during the processes of management and investment decisions and environmental aspects. One reason for this attitude is that, typically, the accounting systems do not explicitly show the frequency and consistency of environmental costs which the company claims during normal operation. Moreover, in general, these costs are not properly allocated to each product or process that produces them. This implies the great danger of making wrong choices in terms of marketing mix (incorrect assessment of the contribution of product) of capital budgeting and development strategies of new products. Also, often, to analyze the environmental costs, identify which are the activities that generate them, and delete them (eg. Eliminate the use of dangerous substances) also leads to a reduction in costs for the management of safety and health work (eg. reduce the cost of information and training, management and handling of materials used).
not forget the impact that bad "environmental image" can have any image and brand of (green is a trendy word!). All companies of any size, can improve their performance by taking into account environmental impacts, and the related economic and financial effects, their decisions and actions.
As sad as it may seem to think that just putting the problem in economic terms, so costs and benefits, is the key to increase the sensitivity of the economic and productive (and thus political) to the environmental problem.
Not all companies have an ecological conscience. But a budget.
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