Globalisation has boosted the demand for a more transparent accounting of corporate responsibilities encompassing social, economic and environmental dimensions. Proactive companies search for competitive advantage in markets by... more
Globalisation has boosted the demand for a more transparent accounting of corporate responsibilities encompassing social, economic and environmental dimensions. Proactive companies search for competitive advantage in markets by differentiating themselves from competitors. One way to do this is to engage in corporate social responsibility. This trend raises the issues of whether any connection between corporate social responsibility and competitiveness exists or even whether engagement in corporate social responsibility contributes to competitiveness. On the basis of an empirical study this article discusses the connections between corporate social responsibility and competitiveness of Finnish firms. The study by VTT and TKK Dipoli explored this connection from the following angles: first, how companies take into account corporate social responsibility requirements of stakeholders, second, how corporate social responsibility requirements guide business activities and decision making of companies and, third, whether and how socially responsible actions enhance firms’ competitiveness. The empirical study consists of case studies in companies identified to be leaders in corporate social responsibility and of a company survey with 150 respondents. As with several other studies, this study also provides support to the existence of a positive connection between corporate social responsibility and competitiveness. The chapter discusses the results of the study and identifies implications, recommendations and proposals for further research on corporate social responsibility and environmental management accounting.
Stakeholders' pressure motivates the deployment of systems of environmental management control. Nevertheless, few insights are available regarding the impact of stakeholders' pressure on the extent to which eco-control systems are used.... more
Stakeholders' pressure motivates the deployment of systems of environmental management control. Nevertheless, few insights are available regarding the impact of stakeholders' pressure on the extent to which eco-control systems are used. Findings from previous research on eco-control are said to be inconclusive, due to the lack of empirical evidence. In addition, the literature on hotels/tourism indicates a scarcity of studies investigating the factors associated with the use of these systems in the hotel sector. In this study, to help fill this gap, we contribute to the existing literature. We investigate, empirically, the associations between the impact of stakeholders' pressure and the use of eco-control systems, and whether the extent of using these systems is associated with hotel performance in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Our findings conclude that the impact of stakeholders' pressure influences the extent of using eco-control systems in UAE hotels. However, contrary to expectations, the extent of using these systems is not significantly associated with hotel performance. Our findings and interpretations could reflect 'practice variation' in the adoption of eco-control systems in UAE hotels. It could be that UAE hotels do not capitalize on the implications the adoption of these systems could have on their performance. The academic and practical implications of our findings are discussed.
How does a corporation know it emits carbon? Acquiring such knowledge starts with the classification of environmentally relevant consumption information. This paper visits the corporate location at which this underlying element for... more
How does a corporation know it emits carbon? Acquiring such knowledge starts with the classification of environmentally relevant consumption information. This paper visits the corporate location at which this underlying element for their knowledge is assembled to give rise to carbon emissions. Using an Actor-network theory (ANT) framework, the aim is to investigate the actors who bring together the elements needed to classify their carbon emission sources and unpack the heterogeneous relations drawn on.
Based on an ethnographic study of corporate agents of ecological modernisation over a period of 13 months, this paper provides an exploration of three cases of enacting classification. Drawing on Actor-Network theory, we problematise the silencing of a range of possible modalities of consumption facts and point to the ontological ethics involved in such performances. In a context of global warming and corporations construing themselves as able and suitable to manage their emissions, and, additionally, given that the construction of carbon emissions has performative con-sequences, the underlying practices need to be declassified, i.e. opened for public scrutiny. Hence the paper concludes by arguing for a collective engagement with the ontological politics of carbon.
With an increase in the number of the companies that have adopted the ISO 14001 standard, the interest demonstrated in research studies regarding the assessment of the motives for and benefits from the ISO 14001 standard implementation... more
With an increase in the number of the companies that have adopted the ISO 14001 standard, the interest demonstrated in research studies regarding the assessment of the motives for and benefits from the ISO 14001 standard implementation has also been increasing. Nevertheless, in spite of the importance of the ISO 14001 standards, a discussion on their importance and the role of accounting in this process yet remains an open issue among researchers and practitioners. Starting from the above said, the main purpose of the research conducted in this paper is to identify the motives for and benefits from the implementation of the ISO 14001 standard and to examine the role of accounting in the implementation process. The empirical research in this paper was performed on the example of the 33 companies that have the obligation to submit their data on the sources of environmental pollution to the National Pollution Register. The data were collected through a poll of the management of the companies via a questionnaire, whereas the data analysis was performed by using various quantitative statistical methods and techniques, and primarily through the application of descriptive statistics and non-parametric tests. The results of the research indicate that the primary motives for the introduction of the ISO 14001 standards are an environmental responsibility, creating the image of a socially responsible company and the improvement of performances, whereas the benefits can be synthesized through the improvement of environmental performances, efficiency and profitability. Also, the results of the research study indicate that the managers of the companies partly recognize the role of accounting in the implementation of the ISO 14001 standard. The main conclusion of the research is that the management of the companies partly recognize the role of accounting in the ISO 14001 standards implementation. The main conclusion of the research is that the management of the companies in Serbia understand the importance of the implementation of the ISO 14001 standards, but not to a proper extent, as well as the role of accounting in that process.
Corporate carbon footprint data has become ubiquitous. This data is also highly promissory. But as this paper argues, such data fails both consumers and citizens. The governance of climate change seemingly requires a strong foundation of... more
Corporate carbon footprint data has become ubiquitous. This data is also highly promissory. But as this paper argues, such data fails both consumers and citizens. The governance of climate change seemingly requires a strong foundation of data on emission sources. Economists approach climate change as a market failure, where the optimisation of the atmosphere is to be evidence based and data driven. Citizens or consumers, state or private agents of control, all require deep access to information to judge emission realities. Whether we are interested in state-led or in neoliberal 'solutions' for either democratic participatory decision-making or for preventing market failure, companies' emissions need to be known. This paper draws on 20 months of ethnographic fieldwork in a Fortune 50 company's environmental accounting unit to show how carbon reporting interferes with information symmetry requirements, which further troubles possibilities for contesting data. A material-semiotic analysis of the data practices and infrastructures employed in the context of corporate emissions disclosure details the situated political economies of data labour along the data processing chain. The explicit consideration of how information asymmetries are socially and computationally shaped, how contexts are shifted and how data is systematically straightened out informs a reflexive engagement with Big Data. The paper argues that attempts to automatise environmental accounting's veracity management by means of computing metadata or to ensure that data quality meets requirements through third-party control are not satisfactory. The crossover of Big Data with corporate environmental governance does not promise to trouble the political economy that hitherto sustained unsustainability.
Enacting Environments is an ethnography of the midst of the encounter between corporations, sustainable development and climate change. At this intersection 'environmental management' and 'carbon accounting' are put into practice.... more
Enacting Environments is an ethnography of the midst of the encounter between corporations, sustainable development and climate change. At this intersection 'environmental management' and 'carbon accounting' are put into practice. Purportedly, these practices green capitalism. Drawing on fieldwork of day-to-day practices of corporate environmental accountants and managers, Ingmar Lippert reconstructs their work as achieving to produce a reality of environment that is simultaneously stable and flexible enough for a particular corporate project: to stage the company, and in consequence capitalism, as in control over its relations to an antecedent environment. Not confined to mere texts or meetings between shiny stakeholders co-governing the corporation – among them some of the world's biggest auditing firms, an environmental non-governmental organisation (NGO) and standards – control is found to be distributed across as well as limited to a myriad of practical work situations, involving spreadsheets and slide shows. Carbon accounting takes place in the midst of docile as well as dissident humans and nonhumans. As a result of this analysis, Enacting Environments establishes how carbon emission facts are produced and co-configure climate change realities. Ingmar Lippert argues: within capitalism, environment does not exist in the singular but in the plural; and these environments are not existing out there to be read off some anterior Nature but they are brought into social, economic and political existence in the practices of accounting for them. Providing a portfolio of methods to study techno-managerial engagement with carbon, Ingmar Lippert shows how much is overlooked in received theories of corporate environmental accounting, theories of the performativity of environmental economics and, ultimately, the epistemic and ontic effects of fact-making in the heart of neoliberal capitalism.
cite as: Ingmar Lippert (2013). Enacting Environments: An Ethnography of the Digitalisation and Naturalisation of Emissions. PhD Dissertation in Sociology, University of Augsburg, Augsburg.
The purpose of current study is to assess the impact of top management commitment on firms' performance, based on legitimacy theory with mediating role of environmental management accounting and environmental management control system.... more
The purpose of current study is to assess the impact of top management commitment on firms' performance, based on legitimacy theory with mediating role of environmental management accounting and environmental management control system. Survey-based data has been collected through questionnaires from ISO 14001 based manufacturing firms of Pakistan. Path analysis has been conducted by applying structural equation modelling on total 304 respondents' data to answer the study hypotheses by using SPSS and AMOS. Results of the study indicate that there is a positive and direct impact of top management commitment on the firms' environmental performance. Moreover, environmental management accounting and control system significantly mediate the relationship between top management commitment and environmental performance. The theoretical model of this study is first time developed and tested by the researcher in Pakistan. Practically, the findings of this research give a deep insight and understanding of how the managers in Pakistan can improve the environmental performance of their firms, through commitment and environmental management accounting as well as environmental management control system tools.
Worldwide natural resources such as coal and water are becoming scarcer each year. Individuals as well as companies need to use natural resources sparingly and responsibly, and decrease waste production. It is not only about the usage of... more
Worldwide natural resources such as coal and water are becoming scarcer each year. Individuals as well as companies need to use natural resources sparingly and responsibly, and decrease waste production. It is not only about the usage of resources, but also about the waste that occurs as a result thereof. Management accounting improves decision-making as it communicates decision-relevant insight and analysis to every decision-maker in a company, focussing on their social and environmental duties. The annual statements on the websites of the Top 10 South African companies in 2014 were analysed and compared to 2012, 2008, and 2003. A „Word cloud‟ was created for each year based on sixteen key words to determine whether awareness grew with regard to for instance sustainability and the environment. This paper is conceptual and exploratory in nature as it highlights the demand on natural resources as well as the steps that can be taken to minimise the impact on natural resources. Companies seem to become more aware of what they do to the environment and would like to take action where ever they can in order to be acceptable to investors. In the early 1980s companies did what is referred to as call “green washing” to comply with legalities. However it seems that this has now changed to a true awareness and “green” companies are becoming more and more competitive due to their truly environmentally friendly activities. In order to assist companies to become even more aware of waste and their environmental responsibility, they may need to be made more aware of the use of management accounting tools such as Activity Based Costing (ABC) and Material Flow Cost Accounting (MFCA) simultaneously.
Keywords: Environmental management accounting (EMA), Material Flow Cost Accounting (MFCA), environmental efficiency, Activity Based Costing (ABC), water footprint, energy, carbon, waste.
Environmental Management Accounting (EMA) is concerned with physical and monetary information, therefore enabling a new type of analysis that supports decision making while considering the environmental dimension. However, for an... more
Environmental Management Accounting (EMA) is concerned with physical and monetary information, therefore enabling a new type of analysis that supports decision making while considering the environmental dimension. However, for an organization to apply EMA is necessary to meet business requirements and therefore the potential benefits and likely costs of the implementation should be assessed in the first place. The first objective of this paper is to highlight the reasons for implementation of EMA referring to eco-efficiency, cost-effectiveness, investment appraisal, strategic positioning and compliance. The second is to presents a high-level blueprint for EMA implementation for a theoretical company and highlight the factors that influence the success of the implementation. The conclusions suggest that given the multitude of EMA methodologies, comparative studies might shed more light for practitioners.
In today's world, advanced nations are enthusiastically performing environmental activities to capture the definitive attainment of financial advantage. Emerging and developing nations are also capturing them gradually. The adoption of... more
In today's world, advanced nations are enthusiastically performing environmental activities to capture the definitive attainment of financial advantage. Emerging and developing nations are also capturing them gradually. The adoption of environmental management systems and the application of environmental accounting practices are the key tools to meet the financial advantage through increasing the cost advantage. This paper examines the impact of the adoption of environmental management systems and the application of environmental accounting practices with an environmental cost advantage. We gather 268 responses from the respondents by the convenient sampling method and employ the Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) technique to find the effect. We use Smart PLS version 3.3. to conduct the analysis. We find robust evidence that the more the adoption of environment systems (e.g., Pollution-prevention, the innovation of technologies, early adoption of environmental issues), the higher the cost advantage. We also find the robustness with evidence that the higher practices of environmental accounting defense the cost and boosted the cost advantage. In the empirical analysis, we further check the robustness with an alternative estimation method (e.g., hierarchical regression analysis), which also implies the same findings. It infers that environmental management systems and environmental accounting, which enable to concurrently protect the environment and reduce costs. These findings have authoritative implications for the regulatory bodies of organizations, academicians, and policymakers.
Environment is a vital part of an organization to being success, also having an appropriate environmental management system is leading to record environmental related activities. The study examined the relationship between institutional... more
Environment is a vital part of an organization to being success, also having an appropriate environmental management system is leading to record environmental related activities. The study examined the relationship between institutional pressures and environmental management accounting (EMA) adoption level by applying new institutional sociology perspective. 100 small and medium manufacturing entities which are registered in Anuradhapura were selected based on convenient sampling method. Data were collected from accountants or/and proprietor of the selected entities using a structured questionnaire. Reliability analysis applied to test the reliability of the questionnaire; descriptive analysis and inferential analysis were applied to analyze the data. Hypotheses were tested by using multiple regression analysis. As per objective of (1) identifying the relationship between institutional pressures and EMA adoption, the results revealed that coercive isomorphism, normative pressures and mimetic processes are significant and moderate positively influence for the adoption of EMA. Addition to that the study (2) investigates the impact of institutional influences on EMA adoption; the findings exposed that coercive isomorphism (responses to political and legitimacy influences) plays a vital role in pressuring EMA for adoption and final objective was to (3) identify the most forceful factor for the EMA adoption; the findings revealed that coercive isomorphism (political/ legitimacy influences) is important in managing environmental issues in SMEs'. Moreover, the findings support that SME manufacturing firms in Anuradhapura district still do not practice EMA practices with their entities. Therefore, this study recommends that the political and legitimacy influences should enhance to adopt and improve environmental management accounting practices in Anuradhapura district Manufacturing SMEs. Apart from that, the study has made attention on understanding the application of new institutional sociology perspective, also provides useful contribution to the present knowledge by exploring more explanations for environmental management accounting adoption in an unexplored context in Anuradhapura district as well as in Sri Lanka. Indexed Terms: Environmental management accounting, Institutional Theory, small and medium manufacturing entities, new sociology perspective
As the industries and their production have grown in India over the years, the risk of sustainability increases because industries have been polluting the environment at an alarming rate. The industries are hence contributing to the... more
As the industries and their production have grown in India over the years, the risk of sustainability increases because industries have been polluting the environment at an alarming rate. The industries are hence contributing to the pollution of the environment which raises the question of their regulation and monitoring. Various countries have mandated environmental reporting to be furnished to stakeholders in the companies' annual reports through Environmental Management Accounting (EMA). This provides an insight into the activities of the company towards preservation of natural resources and environment. Environmental Reporting has still been in its nascent stage in India which provides scope for standardization of rules and regulations. This paper hence understands the concept and importance of EMA and problems faced in its adoption. Also, this study studies the Environmental Disclosures practices in ACC Cement.
This paper concerns the currently popular issue of integrated reporting of public companies. The aim of the paper is to identify the previously discussed topics in the Polish-language journals and collective works on integrated reporting... more
This paper concerns the currently popular issue of integrated reporting of public companies. The aim of the paper is to identify the previously discussed topics in the Polish-language journals and collective works on integrated reporting and to specify the main conclusions formulated by their authors on the basis of empirical research. The next aim of this paper is identification research areas that require deeper studies using detailed empirical methods. Also, the paper explains the specifics of creating an environmental impact assessment, which is specialized assessment required by environment protection law and is a reliable source of non-financial information about future investments of the company. In view of the results obtained so far, empirical research needs to be progressed on integrated reporting, particularly in the context of the determination of reliable sources of non-financial information of adequate quality, which - in conjunction with the financial information - will be useful when making investment decisions by investors. Keywords: Intergrated reporting; environmental impact assessment; environmental decision.
In the past decade, there has been a huge demand on financial and economic data about environment and natural resources in India. Environmental Accounting plays a significant role in providing the needed data on surroundings to different... more
In the past decade, there has been a huge demand on financial and economic data about environment and natural resources in India. Environmental Accounting plays a significant role in providing the needed data on surroundings to different users at all levels for various reasons. There is a rising interest in India about subjects such as environmental development, corporate social responsibility, and corporate ecological performance. In all over the world there are an after- effect calls the accountability of corporations in the direction of natural environment. Therefore, Greek corporations have initiated to implementing practices for better ecological performance and reporting them to the public. In current years, environmental pollution becomes so acute; the overall environmental performance rank of India is 155 out of 178 countries. The stakeholder’s awareness to this issue becomes so serious that environmental accounting has become a solid branch of accounting. Still, there is no acknowledgement of environmental accounting. Legal authorities, standard setting bodies and other regulators cannot come to regarding the conceptual framework of environmental accounting and its disclosure. Thus, such concept is not obligatory rather voluntary that has no specific style or format. With the passage of time, more rule are coming in modified format that may lead us to reach a common format for recognizing environment related data and revelation thereof through financial statements. In this paper, the theoretical foundation of environmental accounting and reporting is discussed with special reference to industry like ACC Ltd and Ambuja Ltd. After the proper research it is found that the scenario of Environmental accounting practices has not been transformed. Their Environmental Policy shows that they are giving fully efforts for the better protection of environment but on the other hand the research findings doesn't shows the ecological cost , liability , and ecological expenditure . KEYWORDS: Environmental Accounting and Reporting, ACC Ltd, Ambuja Cements Ltd.
The main objective of this article is to illustrate the accounting methodology for eco-efficiency measurement, which allows for inclusion of the economically-orientated component in the processes of environmental reporting on tourist... more
The main objective of this article is to illustrate the accounting methodology for eco-efficiency measurement, which allows for inclusion of the economically-orientated component in the processes of environmental reporting on tourist destination integral product, whilst examining the interrelation of eco-costs and values found in the classic LCC and particular tourist destination SBU (Strategic Business Unit). The process of tourist destination integral product eco-efficiency measurement calls for development of environmental accounting methods suitable for presentation of economically-orientated sustainability information. In the complex process of integral product eco-efficiency measurement, LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) and LCC (Life Cycle Costing) take important roles. Interpretation and presentation of the data includes detailed cradle-to-grave environmental impact assessment of direct and indirect tourist activity and different products of tourist destination SBU's. Eco-costs represent the monetary component in the processes of environmental accounting and reporting on environmental impact of tourist destination integral product.
Guidelines on EMA for organizations have been published by various national and international institutes around the world. Yet, in Sri Lanka, there has been little attempt at the national level to guide industries on adopting and... more
Guidelines on EMA for organizations have been published by various national and international institutes around the world. Yet, in Sri Lanka, there has been little attempt at the national level to guide industries on adopting and sustaining environmental strategies and its supporting accounting tool, EMA. “Environmental Management Accounting (EMA) - Guidelines for Sri Lankan Enterprises” is a publication that aims at filling this long felt need for industries.
It is apparent that management accounting can play a crucial role in driving organizations for better environmental performance, irrespective of the organizational function that utilizes it. The growing body of EMA practices which can support this is presented here with the primary aim of improving the level of awareness of Sri Lankan managers on how EMA could be adopted and made use of. It is expected that the improved understanding will be a catalyst in leading industries across diverse sectors for better adoption of EMA in Sri Lanka.
