Advancing sustainability management accounting in the Asia Pacific region

Purpose: This study examines how Environmental Management Accounting practices are related to waste management practices and how the organization in the case study is influenced in adopting the waste management practices Research methodology: The case study method was used in examining the applicability of Environmental Management Accounting to waste management in one large manufacturing company. Interviews, observations and archival documents were used as data collection methods. Results: The study observed that the company had reinvigorated environmental management and waste management practices due to the influence of the major stakeholders. These motivations can be categorized into three main pillars including coercive, mimetic, and normative isomorphisms. Limitations: As the research is directed towards the selection of in-depth inquiry of specific settings infused with culture, values, beliefs, stories, language, perception, politics and ideology, it might cause to diminish the researcher's analytical objectivity and independence of the research. Contribution: Policies, practices and motivations promote the future development of environmental management accounting and waste management practices in the Sri Lankan context.

The commercial real estate (CRE)’s slow progress in adopting green practices suggests the need to strengthen sustainable environmental accountability efforts. The green practices can be strengthened and complemented by incorporating environmental management accounting (EMA) practices into business strategic planning to achieve sustained ecological and business performance in South Africa’s CRE. A systematic literature review of 75 journal articles provides insights into EMA practices and green practices in the CRE sector. The findings suggest that implementing EMAPs, such as applying energy accounting, carbon management accounting, life-cycle costing, and the sustainability balanced scoreboard, is responsible for improving environmental sustainability performance. EMA’s role in promoting sustainable performance in the CRE sector involves potential cost savings, reduced energy usage, lower greenhouse gas emissions, and enhanced efficiency. Moreover, EMA addresses environmental issues in product pricing and formulating environmentally sensitive decisions that simultaneously address sustainable performance challenges. Therefore, the study’s findings pave the way for stakeholders in the CRE sector to work toward a coherent green practices framework. The study presents the South African context and can be generalized across other developing African countries in the Global South. Calls for future research highlight the challenges of implementing EMA in the CRE sector of developing countries.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of environmental management accounting (EMA) practices on environmental performance in the small-medium sized (SME) manufacturing sector. The empirical data was collected through structured questionnaires that were distributed to the managers. The study results reveal that physical EMA has the highest mean score compared to monetary EMA, however, unfortunately the EMA practice is not at an encouraging level in Malaysia. The regression results indicate that both types of EMA practices (monetary and physical) have a positive and significant effect on environmental performance. Thus, this study demonstrates the importance of EMA in enhancing environmental performance. The study results are valuable to policy makers, managers of manufacturing SMEs and other sectors to appreciate EMA practices. The study findings contribute to a growing body of literature on EMA within the Asian context, particularly, Malaysia. Finally, this study shed lights on the extent to which EMA tools has been used amongst manufacturing SMEs and provides a good foundation and framework for future studies.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of environmental management accounting (EMA) practices on environmental performance in the small-medium sized (SME) manufacturing sector. The empirical data was collected through structured questionnaires that were distributed to the managers. The study results reveal that physical EMA has the highest mean score compared to monetary EMA, however, unfortunately the EMA practice is not at an encouraging level in Malaysia. The regression results indicate that both types of EMA practices (monetary and physical) have a positive and significant effect on environmental performance. Thus, this study demonstrates the importance of EMA in enhancing environmental performance. The study results are valuable to policy makers, managers of manufacturing SMEs and other sectors to appreciate EMA practices. The study findings contribute to a growing body of literature on EMA within the Asian context, particularly, Malaysia. Finally, this study shed lights on the extent to which EMA tools has been used amongst manufacturing SMEs and provides a good foundation and framework for future studies.

Despite the increasing popularity of environmental and sustainability management accounting (EMA) in corporate sustainability management, researchers in the sustainability accounting and sustainability management field neglect the importance and the relevance of national culture and its effect on the level of implementation of sustainability accounting and management practices. Yet, to our knowledge, there is no recent study of how national culture affects corporate environmental and sustainability management accounting practices in the different nations where they operate. In order to provide new insights into the link between national culture and EMA practice, we adopt Gray’s (1988) Abacus 24(1):1–15 theory of cultural relevance in national accounting systems. In brief, Gray proposed a framework to explain how national culture affects national accounting system using Hofstede’s (1986) The cultural context of accounting: accounting and culture. Paper presented to annual conference of the American Accounting Association, New York culture dimensions. An understanding of the national culture and its effect on the adoption and implementation of EMA can help us to improve the relevance of EMA practice and implementation in different countries. Based on Gray’s (1988) Abacus 24(1):1–15 framework, we develop the link between national cultural values and EMA values. As original contributions to sustainability accounting, we propose four EMA value dimensions (symbolic versus action, reactionary versus responsible, voluntary versus transparent, and integration versus differentiation).

To understand the ways that 5-star hotels in Kwazulu Natal use to select environmental management accounting (EMA) practices to implement, the study assists hotel managers in better understanding and effectively formulating other mechanisms for improving EMA. The paper ascertains the manner applied by managers in 5-star hotels in KwaZulu Natal province when selecting EMA practices to adopt for their business activities. To attain the key aim objective of the research, 21 interviews and observations were conducted on three 5-star hotels among hotel managers, accountants, and administration managers. The study identifies that meeting international customers’ expectations plays a dominant role in pushing hotels to select EMA practices that can be easily identified by the customers such as water and energy efficiency. 78% of the interviewees endorse that international clients choose hotels that promote environmental initiatives hence the choice of current EMA practices. In addition, this is critical because it also affects the financial performance of the hotels. The paper provides further empirical evidence in extant literature that financial performance remains the key factor influencing a decision on EMA practices to be applied by hotels in emerging markets.

Previous questionnaire surveys on environmental management accounting (EMA) practices in Japan have targeted managers in environmental departments in corporate headquarters as being representative of the company perspective. By conducting a questionnaire survey in manufacturing sites this paper attempts to clarify Japanese corporate EMA practices at the operational level. Since environmental departments in headquarters are presumed to have considerable influence on the introduction and performance of environmental accounting at sites this study analyses the relationship between manufacturing sites and headquarters. As a result, the following points were identified. First, the main purpose of environmental accounting at manufacturing sites is to send data to headquarters. Second, approximately half of the sites in the sample used environmental accounting for internal management and environmental accounting was felt to be more useful at these sites than at those which did not use it for internal management. Third, an effective headquarters advises sites about the introduction of environmental accounting for internal management.

This study explores on the roles of different stakeholders in shaping the organisation's environmental management accounting (EMA) practices. By identifying the different salient stakeholders, as well as their demands and influence, the focus of this study is to address the motivations and types of environmental management and EMA practices that are being implemented. A case study of an airport operator is used with data collected from interviews, documentary review and observations at the case organisation. Both the external and internal stakeholders' demand for particular environmental information shaped the implementation of selective environmental management practices including the depth and breadth of these practices. This study also highlights on the utilisation of EMA information in enhancing operational process, profitability as well as the company's reputation.

PurposeThis study aims to observe the influence of environmental management accounting (EMA) and environmental knowledge management (KM) practices on environmental performance with mediating role of top management support (TMS). Moreover, green work climate perception (GWCP) is used as a moderator between TMS and environmental performance.Design/methodology/approachPartial least square-structural equation modeling is used to test research hypotheses. Data was collected to distribute questionnaires in light of the purposive sampling technique; a total of 329 questionnaires were used for final analysis. This study is correlational and cross-sectional. Multiple regression analysis was used to see the influence of EMA, environmental KM practices, TMS and GWCP on environmental performance.FindingsThe results reveal that EMA, environmental KM practices and TMS are positively related to environmental performance. Moreover, TMS significantly mediates between EMA, environmental KM practices and environmental performance. GWCP is positively associated with environmental performance. Finally, GWCP significantly strengthens the positive relationship between TMS and environmental performance.Practical implicationsThis study highlighted a significant issue that of how top management uses EMA, environmental KM practices, TMS and GWCP in examining environmental performance. Moreover, this study covers the gap and supports top management to concentrate on exogenous variables to examine environmental performance.Originality/valueThis study adds value to literature to focus on factors that influence environmental performance. This initial research observes the influence of EMA and environmental KM practices on environmental performance with TMS as a mediator in light of the knowledge-based view. Besides, GWCP is used as a moderator between TMS and environmental performance. Finally, our research can provide benefits to researchers, students and managers.

Environmental management accounting (EMA) practices guide a firm’s response to perceived environmental uncertainty (EU) and various institutional pressures (IP). Drawing upon institutional theory, this study explores the relative effects of institutional pressures and environmental uncertainty on the implementation of EMA, an environmental strategy (ES), and the resulting environmental performance (EP) of firms under the influence of top-management support (TMS) and perceived benefits (PB). Based on data collected from 243 firms operating in Suzhou, one of the busiest business hubs in China, this research used the structural equation modeling (SEM) technique. Findings reveal that environmental uncertainty exerts a stronger influence on the adoption of EMA practices than institutional pressures; however, the choice of a firm’s environmental strategy is more influenced by institutional pressures. Likewise, the serial-mediation effect of environmental strategy and EMA practices is observed to be the strongest in the case of coercive pressures, with some notable moderation effect for perceived benefits and top-management support. The study concludes with theoretical and managerial implications.

O estudo objetiva identificar a relação entre práticas de contabilidade de gestão ambiental e inovação, fundamentado no modelo teórico de Ferreira, Moulang e Hendro (2010), em empresas industriais de grande porte estabelecidas no Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil. Pesquisa descritiva foi realizada por meio de levantamento em 21 empresas industriais selecionadas por acessibilidade, com aplicação de modelagem de equações estruturais Partial Least Squares (PLS). Os resultados mostram que nem todas as empresas pesquisadas adotam práticas de sistemas de Environmental Management Accounting. Também evidenciam associação positiva entre a estratégia prospectora e o tamanho da empresa, em relação ao uso de sistemas EMA. A estratégia prospectora influencia o esforço em pesquisa e desenvolvimento e em inovação de produtos e processos. As variáveis de inovação de processos e inovação de produtos apresentaram forte correlação. As evidências encontradas permitem concluir que há associação positiva entre uso de sistemas EMA e inovação nas empresas pesquisadas.

The disclosure of environmental management accounting (EMA) practices determine the eco-friendly business activities and helps to measure costs and benefits of environmental preservation of any organizations. The study aims to identify the disclosures status of EMA practices in the in PCBs in Bangladesh. The study also aims to examine the factors (total assets, total investment, profit after tax, ROA, ROE, and EPS) influencing disclosure of the adoption of environmental management accounting in listed PCBs in Bangladesh. This study applied quantitative research method to collect and analyze data. EMA disclosure data is collected from the annual reports of the banks and panel data is used to data analysis of the factors. The collected data is analyzed using descriptive statistics, inferential statistics, correlation, and multiple linear regression analysis. Six hypotheses are developed and tested at 5% significance level. The study concludes that the private banks disclose 71.15% information of EMA practices.

Environmental accounting practices in Japan have been led by two governmental initiatives. One is the MOE initiative which emphasized external disclosure. The other is the METI initiative which emphasized the applications of environmental accounting to internal management, namely Environmental Management Accounting (EMA). To characterize corporate environmental accounting practices in Japan, a questionnaire survey was administered to all companies listed in the first section of the Tokyo Stock Market. After a brief review of these governmental initiatives, this paper will examine the survey results. From the results it is found that environmental accounting is still oriented mainly toward external information disclosure, but that the application to internal management (EMA) has increased steadily. The survey results are also used to assess a set of hypotheses regarding factors and conditions important to promoting adoption and maximizing the benefits of EMA. Findings suggest that key factors include: a well-established environment department actively engaged in decision-making across the firm, understanding of environmental accounting concepts by top and middle management, and the use of specialized EMA tools.

This study examines (1) management accountants? roles in driving sustainable success to create a corporate sustainability, (2) environmental information in annual reports based on the indicators of the Global Reporting Initiatives (GRI), and (3) environmental information in the reports and the information identified by the environmental management accounting (EMA) practices. Management accountants drive as a collaborator with a company to provide environmental information incorporating in the reports for investment decisions. A set of survey is created to conduct environmental performance indicators in annual reports of 2011 and 2012 of two-hundred listed companies in Thailand. Regression analysis is considered appropriate for this study to analyse the relationship among variables. The results reveal that environmental information incorporated in annual reports is positively relevant to the indicators of the GRI guidelines. Environmental information in the reports is also significantly related to the data identified based on the EMA practices. Although management accountants are not fully involved in capturing data, they are intending to play an important role in creating sustainable value towards a corporate sustainability. Thus, management accountant?s roles in driving as a collaborator with a company are related to creating a corporate sustainability from promoting environmental sustainability significantly.

The consequences of the global climate change and degradation of ecosystems have created a tendency for the hotel industries to adopt and implement cleaner and safer environmental practices to their business operations. Since Environmental Management Accounting (EMA) has been witnessed around the globe as an effective tool which directs an organization to achieve the goals of sustainability, this study is designed to examine how EMA can be used as a tool to assess a hotel’s impact on the environment and its contribution towards the Triple Bottom Line (TBL). To proceed the study, a qualitative approach is adopted using a case study method. Since Environmental Management Accounting and sustainability accounting are broader concepts, an in-depth analysis was undertaken in an environmentally friendly hotel in Sri Lanka. The data collection process was mainly done using semi structured interviews as well as non-participative observations and document analysis. The findings of this study reveal that even though hospitality industries in the developing countries lag behind the commitments to the concepts such as sustainability and Environmental Management Accounting, the selected hotel has implemented EMA techniques and practices to a greater degree of success. This greater adoption of EMA practices has not only ensured effective use of energy and water sources, improved employee and customer satisfaction, ensured compliance with legal requirements but also paved the way to gain a competitive position in the market place as a brand that upholds the green visionary and sustainability as their main strategic imperative.