ENVIRONMENTAL ACCOUNTING (A SYSTEMATIC APPROACH FOR MANAGING NATURAL RESOURCES)

‘Green accounting’ is the popular term for environmental and natural resource accounting, which incorporates environmental assets and their source and sink functions into national and corporate accounts. It is broadly defined as the identification, collection, analysis, dissemination, and use of physical flow information (materials, energy and water flows), environmental cost information, and other monetary information for both conventional and environmental decision-making. This definition of Green Accounting is similar to the definition of conventional natural resources management methods, but has several key differences: • It places particular emphasis on identifying environmental costs, including the costs of producing waste; • It includes information on physical flows and use of materials, water, and energy, as well as cost information; • Its information is particularly useful for activities and decisions with environmental impacts. Green Accounting or Environmental Accounting is an important function that provides a means to incorporate information to manage and conserve environment in the globalize world. The most compelling reason for practicing green accounting is the growing body of evidence indicating that environmental costs can make up a much larger proportion of costs than any country can realize. Environmental accounting will also serve as a solid foundation for an Environmental Management System (EMS) which increases the effectiveness of an existing one management system not only for developing countries but also for developed ones.