This article deals with the types of sustainability accounting classified by various criteria. En... more This article deals with the types of sustainability accounting classified by various criteria. Environmental accounting is a type of accounting which considers not only financial capital but also other forms of capital: natural, human, social, etc. This article focuses on the types of sustainability accounting which concern the relationship between enterprises and natural capital. The author singles out certain methods of conservation and protection of the environment and particularly of natural capital using strong and weak sustainability approaches. The supporters of weak sustainability, who are generally environmental economists, are inspired by the neoclassical theory, while the strong sustainability advocates (or ecological economists) offer to introduce a systematic depreciation of natural capital.
The ‘Triple Bottom Line’ (TBL) is a major and increasingly used socio-environmental accounting fr... more The ‘Triple Bottom Line’ (TBL) is a major and increasingly used socio-environmental accounting framework. However, critical academic examinations of this model have been remained scarce and most importantly, no real alternatives have been developed. Thus this theoretical paper provides a contribution to fill this gap. Through a critical analysis of the TBL, we argue that it suffers from severe limitations. In particular, it does not protect human and natural capital (HNC). As an answer to these problems, we propose and discuss another accounting framework, the ‘Triple Depreciation Line’ (TDL), which extends to HNC the powerful capitalist accounting tool for preserving financial capital – the historical cost accounting (HCA) and its planned depreciation. To this end, we analyse and (re-)define the concept of capital in an ecological accounting context. We clearly specify the assumptions on which the TDL relies, to facilitate comparisons or dialogues with other accounting models and t...
Today's sustainable finance mainly relies on the extension of a particular classical capital ... more Today's sustainable finance mainly relies on the extension of a particular classical capital theory to extra-financial types of capital (in particular human and natural). We call (and justify it) this mainstream theory, the Fisherian-(falsified) Hicksian approach. After a critical analysis of this model, we claim that this way of conceptualising sustainable finance is finally unsustainable. At the same time, we also defend the idea that there is a convergence between ecological-based sustainability (which we can call by definition a genuine sustainability) and the extension of the traditional accounting framework to extra-financial types of capital. Therefore, we propose to structure a sustainable finance from this perspective (which we call CARES, for Capital Approach Resting on Ecological-based Sustainability): after having defined how to operationalise and theorize such a sustainable accounting, thanks to the " Triple Depreciation Line " model (Rambaud & Richard, 20...
The goal of this article is to show how today’s financial accounting system, notably the IFRS (In... more The goal of this article is to show how today’s financial accounting system, notably the IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) and the related National accounts (primarily the famous GDP, Gross Domestic Product), are the main causes of today’s human and ecological crisis. This assertion is justified on the basis of an historical survey of the development of capitalist accounting since the end of the Middles Age, the time of its foundation. We prove that, in the form it was invented by big capitalists at that time (and used until today), the concept of capital-debt to be conserved has nothing to do with the one used by economists of either classical, neoclassical, or marxist schools and that it is a very dangerous weapon against the interests of the mankind and ecology.
As a fundamental instrument of financial capitalism the today’s IFRS system of accounting is not ... more As a fundamental instrument of financial capitalism the today’s IFRS system of accounting is not only totally unsuitable for the needs of a new ecological world but also represents a serious menace for the development of a sound economic system. The goal of this article is to explain the main reasons for this criticism and to suggest some elements of reconstruction of the today’s accounting system with a new international environmental accounting to be promoted by the European Union.
Since 1986, Vietnam has been reforming its economic system, moving from a centrally planned econo... more Since 1986, Vietnam has been reforming its economic system, moving from a centrally planned economy to a market-oriented economy connected to the rest of the world. This process has been shaped by the tensions and power relationship between moderate and radical reformers and the interaction of their reform strategies. This paper demonstrates that, unlike many reforms in former socialist countries,
This article deals with the types of sustainability accounting classified by various criteria. En... more This article deals with the types of sustainability accounting classified by various criteria. Environmental accounting is a type of accounting which considers not only financial capital but also other forms of capital: natural, human, social, etc. This article focuses on the types of sustainability accounting which concern the relationship between enterprises and natural capital. The author singles out certain methods of conservation and protection of the environment and particularly of natural capital using strong and weak sustainability approaches. The supporters of weak sustainability, who are generally environmental economists, are inspired by the neoclassical theory, while the strong sustainability advocates (or ecological economists) offer to introduce a systematic depreciation of natural capital.
The ‘Triple Bottom Line’ (TBL) is a major and increasingly used socio-environmental accounting fr... more The ‘Triple Bottom Line’ (TBL) is a major and increasingly used socio-environmental accounting framework. However, critical academic examinations of this model have been remained scarce and most importantly, no real alternatives have been developed. Thus this theoretical paper provides a contribution to fill this gap. Through a critical analysis of the TBL, we argue that it suffers from severe limitations. In particular, it does not protect human and natural capital (HNC). As an answer to these problems, we propose and discuss another accounting framework, the ‘Triple Depreciation Line’ (TDL), which extends to HNC the powerful capitalist accounting tool for preserving financial capital – the historical cost accounting (HCA) and its planned depreciation. To this end, we analyse and (re-)define the concept of capital in an ecological accounting context. We clearly specify the assumptions on which the TDL relies, to facilitate comparisons or dialogues with other accounting models and t...
Today's sustainable finance mainly relies on the extension of a particular classical capital ... more Today's sustainable finance mainly relies on the extension of a particular classical capital theory to extra-financial types of capital (in particular human and natural). We call (and justify it) this mainstream theory, the Fisherian-(falsified) Hicksian approach. After a critical analysis of this model, we claim that this way of conceptualising sustainable finance is finally unsustainable. At the same time, we also defend the idea that there is a convergence between ecological-based sustainability (which we can call by definition a genuine sustainability) and the extension of the traditional accounting framework to extra-financial types of capital. Therefore, we propose to structure a sustainable finance from this perspective (which we call CARES, for Capital Approach Resting on Ecological-based Sustainability): after having defined how to operationalise and theorize such a sustainable accounting, thanks to the " Triple Depreciation Line " model (Rambaud & Richard, 20...
The goal of this article is to show how today’s financial accounting system, notably the IFRS (In... more The goal of this article is to show how today’s financial accounting system, notably the IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) and the related National accounts (primarily the famous GDP, Gross Domestic Product), are the main causes of today’s human and ecological crisis. This assertion is justified on the basis of an historical survey of the development of capitalist accounting since the end of the Middles Age, the time of its foundation. We prove that, in the form it was invented by big capitalists at that time (and used until today), the concept of capital-debt to be conserved has nothing to do with the one used by economists of either classical, neoclassical, or marxist schools and that it is a very dangerous weapon against the interests of the mankind and ecology.
As a fundamental instrument of financial capitalism the today’s IFRS system of accounting is not ... more As a fundamental instrument of financial capitalism the today’s IFRS system of accounting is not only totally unsuitable for the needs of a new ecological world but also represents a serious menace for the development of a sound economic system. The goal of this article is to explain the main reasons for this criticism and to suggest some elements of reconstruction of the today’s accounting system with a new international environmental accounting to be promoted by the European Union.
Since 1986, Vietnam has been reforming its economic system, moving from a centrally planned econo... more Since 1986, Vietnam has been reforming its economic system, moving from a centrally planned economy to a market-oriented economy connected to the rest of the world. This process has been shaped by the tensions and power relationship between moderate and radical reformers and the interaction of their reform strategies. This paper demonstrates that, unlike many reforms in former socialist countries,
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