P5考官有关环境管理会计文章Word下载.docx

P5考官有关环境管理会计文章Word下载.docx

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Theglobalprofileofenvironmentalissueshasrisensignificantlyduringthepasttwodecades,precipitatedinpartbymajorincidentssuchastheBhopalchemicalleak（1984）andtheExxonValdezoilspill（1989）.Theseeventsreceivedworldwidemediaattentionandincreasedconcernsovermajorissuessuchasglobalwarming,depletionofnon-renewableresources,andlossofnaturalhabitats.

Thishasledtoageneralquestioningofbusinesspracticesandnumerouscallsforchange.ThesequestionshavenotonlybeenraisedbyorganisationssuchasFriendsoftheEarth,Greenpeace,orgroupsof'

eco-warriors'

butfromtheUnitedNations,theEuropeanUnion,theUKgovernment,theBritishBankersAssociation,insurancecompaniesandpensionfunds.Recognitionthatourcurrentwayoflifeposesathreattousandourplanet,hasledtoglobalagreementsonactiontopreventfutureenvironmentaldamage.SuchagreementsincludetheMontrealProtocol,theRioDeclaration,andtheKyotoProtocol.

Businesseshavebecomeincreasinglyawareoftheenvironmentalimplicationsoftheiroperations,productsandservices.Environmentalriskscannotbeignored,theyarenowasmuchapartofrunningasuccessfulbusinessasproductdesign,marketing,andsoundfinancialmanagement.Poorenvironmentalbehaviourmayhavearealadverseimpactonthebusinessanditsfinances.Punishmentincludesfines,increasedliabilitytoenvironmentaltaxes,lossinvalueofland,destructionofbrandvalues,lossofsales,consumerboycotts,inabilitytosecurefinance,lossofinsurancecover,contingentliabilities,lawsuits,anddamagetocorporateimage.

Nearlyallaspectsofbusinessareaffectedbyenvironmentalpressures,includingaccounting.Fromanaccountingperspective,theinitialpressureswerefeltinexternalreporting,includingenvironmentaldisclosuresinfinancialreportsand/ortheproductionofseparateenvironmentalaccounts.Muchhasbeenwrittenaboutthenatureandqualityoftheseaccounts（seeGrayandBebbington,2001foranintroductionintothisarea）.However,environmentalissuescannotbedealtwithsolelythroughexternalreporting.Environmentalissuesneedtobemanagedbeforetheycanbereportedon,andthisrequireschangestomanagementaccountingsystems.

EnvironmentalReviewofConventionalManagementAccounting

Inanidealworld,organisationswouldreflectenvironmentalfactorsintheiraccountingprocessesviatheidentificationoftheenvironmentalcostsattachedtoproducts,processes,andservices.Nevertheless,manyexistingconventionalaccountingsystemsareunabletodealadequatelywithenvironmentalcostsandasaresultsimplyattributethemtogeneraloverheadaccounts.Consequently,managersareunawareofthesecosts,havenoinformationwithwhichtomanagethemandhavenoincentivetoreducethem（UnitedNationsDivisionforSustainableDevelopment（UNDSD）,2003））.Itmustberecognisedthatmostmanagementaccountingtechniquessignificantlyunderestimatethecostofpoorenvironmentalbehaviour.Manyoverestimatethecostandunderestimatethebenefitsofimprovingenvironmentalpractices.

Managementaccountingtechniquescandistortandmisrepresentenvironmentalissues,leadingtomanagersmakingdecisionsthatarebadforbusinessesandbadfortheenvironment.Themostobviousexamplerelatestoenergyusage.ArecentUKgovernmentpublicitycampaignreportsthatcompaniesarespending,onaverage,30%toomuchonenergythroughinefficientpractices.Withgoodenergymanagement,wecouldreducetheenvironmentalimpactofenergyproductionby30%andslash30%oforganisations'

energyexpenditure.FrostandWilmhurst（2000）suggestthatbyfailingtoreformmanagementaccountingpracticestoincorporateenvironmentalconcerns,organisationsareunawareoftheimpactonprofitandlossaccountsandthebalancesheetimpactofenvironment-relatedactivities.Moreover,theymissoutonidentifyingcostreductionandotherimprovementopportunities,employincorrectproduct/servicepricing,mixanddevelopmentdecisions.Thisleadstoafailuretoenhancecustomervalue,whileincreasingtheriskprofileofinvestmentsandotherdecisionswithlong-termconsequences.Ifmanagementaccountingasadisciplineistocontributetoimprovingtheenvironmentalperformanceoforganisations,thenithastochange.EnvironmentalManagementAccounting（EMA）isanattempttointegratebestmanagementaccountingthinkingandpracticewithbestenvironmentalmanagementthinkingandpractice.

EnvironmentalManagementAccounting

EMAisthegenerationandanalysisofbothfinancialandnon-financialinformationinordertosupportinternalenvironmentalmanagementprocesses.Itiscomplementarytotheconventionalfinancialmanagementaccountingapproach,withtheaimtodevelopappropriatemechanismsthatassistintheidentificationandallocationofenvironment-relatedcosts（BennettandJames（1998a）,FrostandWilmhurst（2000））.ThemajorareasfortheapplicationforEMAare:

∙intheassessmentofannualenvironmentalcosts/expenditures

∙productpricing

∙budgeting

∙investmentappraisal

∙calculatingcostsand

∙savingsofenvironmentalprojects,orsettingquantifiedperformancetargets.

EMAisaswide-ranginginitsscope,techniquesandfocusasnormalmanagementaccounting.Burrittetal（2001）stated:

'

thereisstillnoprecisionintheterminologyassociatedwithEMA'

.TheyviewedEMAasbeinganapplicationofconventionalaccountingthatisconcernedwiththeenvironmentally-inducedimpactsofcompanies,measuredinmonetaryunits,andcompany-relatedimpactsonenvironmentalsystems,expressedinphysicalunits.EMAcanbeviewedasapartoftheenvironmentalaccountingframeworkandisdefinedas'

usingmonetaryandphysicalinformationforinternalmanagementuse'

.

Burrittetaldevelopedamulti-dimensionalframeworkofEMA（Figure1）.Theirframeworkconsidersthedistinctionsbetweenfivedimensions:

∙internalversusexternal

∙physicalversusmonetaryclassifications

∙pastandfuturetimeframes

∙shortandlongtermand

∙adhocversusroutineinformationgatheringintheproposedframeworkfortheapplicationofEMA.

Figure1:

ProposedframeworkofEMAaccordingtoBurrittetal（2001）

WithinthisframeworkthedifferenttechniquesofEMA-suchasenvironmentallifecyclecostingorenvironmentalcostaccounting-canbeplacedandassigned.Themanagementofacompanycanchooseappropriatetoolsonthebasisoftheirinformationneeds.

Similarly,inaseriesofpublications（1997,1998a,1998b）,BennettandJamesdescribethediverserangeandscopeofenvironmentalmanagementaccounting.Theyprovideasetofusefulmodels,oneofwhichis'

TheEnvironment-RelatedManagementAccountingPyramid'

tohelpevaluateenvironmentalmanagementaccountingpracticesaswellastohelpinthedesignandimplementationofnewsystems.

AccordingtoBennettandJames（1998a）（Figure2）,EMAisconcernedwithgatheringdatarelatedtotheenvironment（lowestlevels）,whichareconvertedthroughtechniquesandprocesses（middlelevel）intoinformationwhichisusefulformanagers（top）.Keydataisbothnon-financialandfinancialinnature.Managementaccountingtechniquessuchasperformancemeasurement,operationalbudgeting,costingorpricingareusedforthetransformation.

Figure2:

Theenvironment-relatedmanagementaccountingpyramid,BennettandJames（1998A）

Examplesoftechniques

RedefiningCosts

Aliteraturereviewrevealsvariousapproachestothedefinitionofenvironmentalcosts.In1998,theUSEnvironmentalProtectionAgencyarguedthatthedefinitionofenvironmentalcostsdependedonhowacompanyintendstousetheinformation,forexampleincapitalbudgetingorproductdesign.Theyintroducedterminologythatdistinguishesbetweenconventionalcosts,potentiallyhiddencosts,contingentcosts,andimageandrelationshipcosts.

Conventionalcostsarethoserawmaterialandenergycostshavingenvironmentalrelevance.Potentiallyhiddencostsarethosewhicharecapturedbyaccountingsystems,butthenlosetheiridentityin'

overheads'

.Contingentcostsmaybeincurredatafuturedate-forexamplecostsforcleaningup.Theyarealsoreferredtoascontingentliabilities.Imageandrelationshipcostsareintangibleinnatureandinclude,forexample,thecostsofproducingenvironmentalreports.

However,suchcostspaleintoinsignificancewhencomparedwiththecostsassociatedwithbeingseentobehaveinanirresponsiblemanner.TheinfamousBrentSparincidentthatcosttheShelloilcompanymillionsofpoundsintermsoflostrevenuesviatheresultantconsumerboycott,isanexampleofthepowerfulinfluencethatenvironmentalconcernhasintoday'

sbusinessenvironment.Shelllearnedthelesson,albeitsomewhatbelatedly,andasaresultcompletelyre-engineereditsenvironmentalmanagementsystem.

ACCAhasalsopublishedaresearchreportoutlininganagendaforactiononfullcostaccounting（Bebbington,Gray,HibbitandKirk,2001）,whichcontainsadetailedreviewofthebusinesscaseforadoptingfullenvironmentalcosting.Oneexampleofthepotentialgainsfromusingfullcosting（sometimesreferredtoaslifecyclecosting,BennettandJames（1998b））canbeseeninthecaseofXeroxlimited.

Xeroxlimited,asubsidiaryofXeroxCorporation,introducedtheconceptoflifecyclecostingforitslogisticchain.ThecorebusinessofXeroxlimitedismanufacturingphotocopiers,whichareleasedratherthansold.ThismeansthemachinesarereturnedtoXeroxli