Accounting, Environmental Resource Values, and Non‐market Valuation Techniques for Environmental Resources: A Review

Abstract

The primary focus concerns the measurement of non‐market environmental effects. It is suggested that the formal decision analysis advocated in traditional management accounting typically excludes a wide range of nonfinancial activities and that developments in environmental economics may prove useful in the development of more explicit procedures for corporate decision making. Different approaches to environmental resource decision making are discussed, along with different notions of environmental value, including use, option and preservation values. Finally, the different methods suggested by economists to obtain monetary values for non‐market resources, specifically the dose‐response, hedonic price, travel cost, and contingent valuation methods, are reviewed, with mention of some implications for private decision makers and accountants.