Investigating environmental management accounting in the chemical industry in South Africa

Abstract

Environmental issues are of increasing concern to a variety of stakeholders in most countries all around the world. There is a growing consensus that conventional accounting practices simply do not provide adequate information to support decision-making in order to manage the environment. Environmental management accounting (EMA) is a combined approach that provides for the transition of data from financial accounting, cost accounting and mass balances to increase material efficiency, reduce environmental impacts and risks and, ultimately, lead to the reduction of environmental costs. This paper investigates the practise of EMA in the chemical industry. A questionnaire was administrated to a selected group of participants who are employees in the chemical industry in South Africa. Different functional roles from different types of chemical companies were identified to participate. The findings of this paper indicate that there is a good level of awareness of EMA in the South African chemical industry. Most organizations are applying sound environmental practices and are adopting environmental strategies and tools to improve their current status. Different levels of awareness exist between the different functional roles in the respective organizations. Operational and capital environmental information are disclosed and organizations do generate and record information on physical and monetary environmental management accounting