Environmental accounting and reporting: theory law and empirical evidence

The last two decades have witnessed an increasing global concern for the harmful long-term impact of industrial activities on the environment and subsequently on financial performance of a company and economic growth of a country. This has led to a growing demand from various stakeholders for measurement of a companys environmental activities and impacts, and subsequent public disclosure of this information. As a result, a new area of accounting has emerged, viz. environmental accounting. Environmental accounting at corporate level deals with identification, measurement, recognition and disclosure of environmental costs, liabilities and contingencies in the financial records of a company for the benefit of various internal and external stakeholders. This book provides a broad introduction to the whole area of environmental accounting and reporting (EAR). It covers environmental accounting, environmental reporting, and environmental auditing together as these are interrelated and form a very important part of a companys comprehensive environmental management system. An attempt has also been made to assess the need for a separate regulatory framework to address these issues more specifically. (Source: www.newcenturypublications.com)