TY - CHAP

T1 - Environmental Management Accounting and the Opportunity Cost of Neglecting Environmental Protection

AU - Schaltegger, Stefan

AU - Burritt, Roger

PY - 2002

Y1 - 2002

N2 - Reflections on how much voluntary expenditure a company should make on environ-mental-protection measures are dominated by the discussion of relevant direct internalcosts. Compulsory spending on environmental protection (e.g. expenditure forced byregulations) is not taken into account here, because compliance with environmentallaws and regulations is a minimum requirement in order to continue in operation. Whenmaking decisions on future investments, a comparison of the direct and indirect costsof corporate environmental protection with other potential commercial investments is,without doubt, economically highly relevant. However, from an economic point of view,a comparison based on opportunity costs is even more important (see, e.g., Hirshleifer,1980, p. 265; Kreps, 1990). Economists consider that the economic cost of undertakingany activity should be interpreted as being the cost of the best alternative opportunityforegone. This paper addresses the question of why environmental managementaccounting is anecessary foundation in order to obtain opportunity cost informationas a foundation for making an informed choice on whether a business should pursueor neglect environmental protection.

AB - Reflections on how much voluntary expenditure a company should make on environ-mental-protection measures are dominated by the discussion of relevant direct internalcosts. Compulsory spending on environmental protection (e.g. expenditure forced byregulations) is not taken into account here, because compliance with environmentallaws and regulations is a minimum requirement in order to continue in operation. Whenmaking decisions on future investments, a comparison of the direct and indirect costsof corporate environmental protection with other potential commercial investments is,without doubt, economically highly relevant. However, from an economic point of view,a comparison based on opportunity costs is even more important (see, e.g., Hirshleifer,1980, p. 265; Kreps, 1990). Economists consider that the economic cost of undertakingany activity should be interpreted as being the cost of the best alternative opportunityforegone. This paper addresses the question of why environmental managementaccounting is anecessary foundation in order to obtain opportunity cost informationas a foundation for making an informed choice on whether a business should pursueor neglect environmental protection.

KW - Sustainability sciences, Management & Economics

KW - Umweltbezogenes Management

KW - Management Accounting

KW - Umweltökonomie

KW - Environmental Impact

KW - Marginal Cost

KW - Opportunity Cost

KW - Environmental Cost

KW - Management Accounting

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/e1953248-e74f-3a20-99c8-dbed06026744/

U2 - 10.1007/0-306-48022-0_21

DO - 10.1007/0-306-48022-0_21

M3 - Contributions to collected editions/anthologies

SN - 978-1-4020-0552-7

SP - 265

EP - 277

BT - Environmental Management Accounting

A2 - Bennett, Martin

A2 - Bouma, Jan Jaap

PB - Kluwer Academic Publishers

CY - Dordrecht

ER -