Environmental Management » Quantification

How Environmental Accounting Can Benefit Your Business

admin — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 03:13:42 +0000

It is no great secret that businesses are created to deliver products and services in order to earn a profit. However it is important that companies think about their balance sheet in terms of whether they are in the red or the black and also the “green”, too. With the growing green consumer awareness, companies are now expected to align their business strategies with environmental schemes. Environmentally conscious businesses have already discovering that they are able to initiate strategies to help them reduce their carbon footprint, minimise their environmental impact, make the best use of natural or local resources, become more energy efficient, reduce costs, and display social responsibility – all at the same time. More and more companies want to know how they can be part of a growing movement of doing green business and benefiting from the change. The first step is to consider green accounting into their business model. What is Environmental Accounting? The term, Environmental accounting, is a way of describing changes to your business practices that would be more environmentally friendly. This could be improving environmental performance, controlling costs, investing in technologies that require less energy or produce fewer emissions. Doing greener business is not about increased costs and can attract a new customer base that would have never considered you before. Environmental Management Accounting According to the EPA, environmental management accounting is “the identification, prioritisation, quantification or qualification, and incorporation of environmental costs into business decisions.” Environmental Management Accounting uses “data about environmental costs and performance for business decisions. It collects cost, production, inventory, and waste cost and performance for business decisions. It collects cost, production, inventory, and waste cost and performance data in the accounting system to plan, evaluate, and control.” Environmental management accounting therefore represents a combined approach which provides the switch from conventional accounting to consider things such as increase material efficiency, reduction in environmental impact and risk, and reduction in costs of waste. Implementing Environmental Accounting When making the move to implement environmental accounting there is a lot to consider and for big businesses it makes sense to consult specialist help. You need to consider the working site, research and development, and how staff will be informed and even trained. In the past, green initiatives were hampered by lack of understanding by management, who would normally consider them to be costly and a waste of time. Environmental accounting can help management recognise that the tax benefits, rebates and lower costs of being environmentally friendly add up to a real savings for being greener in business.

By: jamiehanson

Environmental "green" Accounting Primer

admin — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 21:53:10 +0000

As we all know, businesses are formed to deliver services or produce products in order to earn a profit. In the 21st century accounting goes beyond the bottom line of black or red – – it includes “green”, too. With the growing green consumer awareness, companies are more than ever expected to align its business strategies with environmental initiatives. Environmentally conscious companies have already discovered that they can generate business strategies to help them reduce their carbon footprint, minimize their environmental impact, make the best use of natural resources, become more energy efficient, reduce costs, and exhibit social responsibility – all at the same time.

Companies who are ready to become an integral part of President Obama’s Green Economy through governmental initiatives will need to expand their accounting staff by hiring accountants who specialize in “green” or environmental accounting.

Definition of Green Accounting

The term, green accounting, has been around since the 1980s, and is known as a management tool used for a variety of purposes, such as improving environmental performance, controlling costs, investing in “cleaner” technologies, developing “greener” processes and products, and forming decisions related to their business activities.

Green Management Accounting

According to the EPA, green or environmental management accounting is “the identification, prioritization, quantification or qualification, and incorporation of environmental costs into business decisions.” Green Management Accounting uses “data about environmental costs and performance for business decisions. It collects cost, production, inventory, and waste cost and performance data in the accounting system to plan, evaluate, and control.”

Environmental management accounting thus represents a combined approach which provides for the transition of data from financial accounting and cost accounting to increase material efficiency, reduce environmental impact and risk, and reduce costs of environmental protection.

Green or Environmental Accountants

Green accountants are held responsible to identify and track green costs often times working with site, research and development, and production managers when planning their budgets. In the past, such costs were buried in overhead preventing a clear picture of the cost savings and benefits to the product, process, system or facility responsible for the green initiatives.

Green accountants help management recognize that the tax benefits, rebates and lower costs of being environmentally friendly add up to a real bottom-line reward for doing the right thing.

“Public environmental, social and sustainability reporting is the main route through which corporate accountability and integrity can be demonstrated,” claims the London-based Association of Chartered Certified Accountants in its report, Environmental, Social and Sustainability Reporting on the World Wide Web.

By: James Hamilton

Green Accounting: Environmental Accounting?

admin — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 14:06:03 +0000

As we all know, businesses are formed to deliver services or produce products in order to earn a profit. In the 21st century accounting goes beyond the bottom line of black or red – – it includes “green”, too. With the growing green consumer awareness, companies are more than ever expected to align its business strategies with environmental initiatives. Environmentally conscious companies have already discovered that they can generate business strategies to help them reduce their carbon footprint, minimize their environmental impact, make the best use of natural resources, become more energy efficient, reduce costs, and exhibit social responsibility – all at the same time.

Companies who are ready to become an integral part of President Obama’s Green Economy through governmental initiatives will need to expand their accounting staff by hiring accountants who specialize in “green” or environmental accounting.

Green Accounting Definition

The term, green accounting, has been around since the 1980s, and is known as a management tool used for a variety of purposes, such as improving environmental performance, controlling costs, investing in “cleaner” technologies, developing “greener” processes and products, and forming decisions related to their business activities.

Green Management Accounting

According to the EPA, green or environmental management accounting is “the identification, prioritization, quantification or qualification, and incorporation of environmental costs into business decisions.” Green Management Accounting uses “data about environmental costs and performance for business decisions. It collects cost, production, inventory, and waste cost and performance for business decisions. It collects cost, production, inventory, and waste cost and performance data in the accounting system to plan, evaluate, and control.”

Environmental management accounting thus represents a combined approach which provides for the transition of data from financial accounting and cost accounting to increase material efficiency, reduce environmental impact and risk, and reduce costs of environmental protection.

Green or Environmental Accountants

Green accountants are held responsible to identify and track green costs often times working with site, research and development, and production managers when planning their budgets. In the past, such costs were buried in overhead preventing a clear picture of the cost savings and benefits to the product, process, system or facility responsible for the green initiatives.

Green accountants help management recognize that the tax benefits, rebates and lower costs of being environmentally friendly add up to a real bottom-line reward for doing the right thing.

“Public environmental, social and sustainability reporting is the main route through which corporate accountability and integrity can be demonstrated,” claims the London-based Association of Chartered Certified Accountants in its report, “Environmental, Social and Sustainability Reporting on the World Wide Web.”

By: Erik Johnson