Martin Freedman - Böcker

Advances in Environmental Accounting & Management aims to advance knowledge of the governance and management of corporate environmental impacts and the accounting for these, including issues related to measurement, valuation, and disclosure. It also aims to increase the awareness of management, accounting practitioners, investors and other stakeholders of the financial and social consequences of corporate environmental impacts, encouraging greater environmental accountability and responsibility. Researchers and practitioners are encouraged to submit papers on any social and environmental issue, based on theoretical and empirical research, conceptual arguments and descriptive models. Coverage includes, but is not limited to the following issues:Environmental accounting including, for instance, issues related to the measurement and valuation of environmental costs and liabilities. Accountability for environmental issues such as climate change, water scarcity and biodiversity. Social/Environmental/Sustainability disclosures, reporting and assurance. Environmental management and control systems. Social and ethical investing.

The accounting profession, especially in the US, has lost credibility and this has serious implications for environmental reporting. As a number of papers in this volume attest, the amount of environmental reporting has increased in the period from the 1980s-mid 1990s. However, the value of those disclosures is open to serious question. The research for most of the papers in this volume was completed prior to the Enron scandal, but the findings indicate a need to re-evaluate what is reported about the firm's relationship to the physical environment.

In the two years since the publication of the last volume of this series, the planet has witnessed some devastating environmental events some of which can be attributed to human causes. However, we have also seen the world uniting (except mainly for the United States and Australia) to reduce greenhouse gases and hopefully slowdown global warming. Recognizing that sustainable development is a way that can lead to well being of the society in the long run, most of the world has therefore agreed to ratify the Kyoto Protocol. There is hope that the USA and other industrialized countries will ratify the Protocol and all countries including China and India, which are exempt from emission cuts, will make efforts to reduce pollution emissions beyond the limit set by the Protocol. Economic growth in China and India is resulting in a rapid increase in the greenhouse gas emissions in those countries. It is especially important that plants in India and China use newer pollution technologies in generating electricity to meet their energy needs. Their continued participation in the dialogue is important to control pollution emissions beyond the Kyoto Protocol. Environmental issues are multi-faceted and they are being debated in several disciplines. These issues may be technical, legal, economical, measurement, managerial, or ethical in nature, and different disciplines focus on the issues of interest to them. Accounting is primarily concerned with measurement of pollution-related performance and cost, and reporting of this information to stakeholders. Consistent with the goals of Sarbanes-Oxley Act, it is important that accounting regains its lost credibility and provides reliable pollution-related information to the stakeholders so that they evaluate their risk properly. This volume contains papers which deal with some of the important issues related to pollution information and should be of interest to investors, management, regulators and other individuals interested in environmental accounting. Several papers contained in this volume deal with disclosure of environmental information. Some papers examine what motivates environmental disclosures, whereas other examine whether environmental reporting reflects any real commitment or it is merely a propaganda ploy. While some firms may be genuinely interested in reporting their environmental performance correctly, others may use it as a tool to look good. Another paper in this issue shows that an alignment of management commitment, strategic planning and proactive managerial actions result in better environmental performance and this leads to better return on investment. Though there is no uniform format for reporting environmental information, the last paper in this issue provides discussion on integrating the living systems theory with the accounting disclosure model. In brief, this issue contains several interesting articles dealing with different aspects of environmental disclosures. It addresses the Kyoto Protocol on an international level, discusses how an accountant measures pollution-related performance and cost, and investigates the motive behind disclosure of environmental information.

This book tells the story of the polution-related activities of companies from the pulp and paper and electric utility industries. The authors trace the development of air and water pollution regulations, analyze pollution data obtained from the EPA offices filed by the companies, and examine the impact of companies' pollution performance on their economic performance. Specifically, the book conducts a comparative analysis of pollution performance of the companies over an eight-year period to evaluate whether the companies have been successful in reducing pollution emissions over this period and how far the pollution emission requirements of the environmental laws are being met, and whether the industries' fear that pollution abatement expenditures would negatively impact their economic performance has any validity.After discussing the provisions and accomplishments of U.S. federal air and water pollution laws, the authors present a plant by plant analysis of air pollution performance for 1979 and 1987 for 109 plants from fifteen electric utility companies, and plant by plant water pollution analysis of fifteen pulp and paper companies. In addition, comparative analyses are presented for the electric utility companies by each air pollutant and by the total air pollution, and for pulp and paper companies for each water pollutant and for the total water pollution. On the basis of an overall pollution index, the authors rank the electric utilities and pulp and paper companies for air and water pollution respectively. The comparative analyses of different time periods demonstrate which companies improved their pollution-abatement performance. The impact of pollution performance on economic performance is addressed by the authors over the short as well as long term. On the basis of earlier research findings and economic theory, the authors hypothesize that there would be a negative economic impact in the short run, but in the long run, this negative impact would disappear. The real life data from companies support this general hypothesis. Finally, the authors relate their research findings to public policy issues and make recommendations for public policy on environmental pollution.