environmental cost The language of business accounting is the balance sheet and income statement.
Do you know that the environment speaks this language too? But environmental costs are usually invisible or hidden because conventional accounting systems do not provide clear environmental cost information, thus distorting the true costs of your products and services. This can seriously impair your business decisions.
You want to make sound decisions for your business. Don’t let hidden costs take you by surprise. Environmental cost accounting can help you identify, compile, estimate, and analyze environmental costs and performance so you can make those right business decisions. On another level, environmental cost accounting is a step in the right direction because of the growing demand for external reporting of your company’s environmental costs. Thus, environmental cost accounting can help you ... reduce costs ... track and report environmental costs ... improve performance evaluation ... improve costing and pricing ... better analyze investments ... support your environmental management system
environmental costaccounting Environmental Cost Accounting comes in ...
What you don’t know can hurt you Costs related to products and processes such as capital equipment, structures, materials, labor, supplies and utilities - all these are the usual costs expected in any business. What is not seen is the slew of hidden environmental costs. By scrutinizing the life cycle of your product from cradle to grave, you can pinpoint potential areas where you could be losing money unnecessarily. Your accounting systems may be hiding: ... The cost of lost manufacturing inputs like materials, energy, capital, and labor. For example, a survey by industry accountants revealed that energy and water costs, the usual manufacturing inputs, are usually aligned to overhead accounts. ... The cost of waste management that spans regulatory compliance, waste handling, treatment and disposal. Are you assigning the cost of environmental management and environmental compliance to overhead accounts rather than to specific products or processes? ... Less tangible costs that lead to benefits of improved corporate image, consumer acceptance and good community relations. Most accounting books do not reflect future costs such as landfill fees or a new wastewater treatment facility. How about lost profits because of reduced production, other regulatory costs, potential liability, or a negative corporate image?
product/service design and mix
process/technology change
budgeting and