Abstract
When implementing environmental management strategies it is important to use effective accounting tools to facilitate corporate decision making. In this context, a body of accounting practices, known as Environmental Management Accounting (EMA), has emerged as an interface between management accounting and environmental management. This paper attempts to provide a snapshot of EMA practices in Sri Lanka using the authors’ experience in dealing with several industries. It presents the commonly observed EMA tools and techniques used in Sri Lankan organizations while discussing how they have been diffused through adopters and propagators. Despite the rapid diffusion, the authors do not find a comprehensive and systematic adoption of EMA in Sri Lanka. This situation offers opportunities for Sri Lankan organizations to benefit from the proper adoption of EMA in the future.
Highlights
The changes in today’s ecological environment have affected businesses more intensely than at any other time in history
There are many propagators in the diffusion process of Environmental Management Accounting (EMA) in Sri Lanka, this paper focuses only on the post-secondary education sector, which can make a significant impact on the prevalent accounting practices in Sri Lanka
The paper presents an overview of Sri Lankan EMA practices and its diffusion based on the authors’ experiences
Summary
The changes in today’s ecological environment have affected businesses more intensely than at any other time in history. Various recent man-made and natural disasters such as the British Petroleum oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, hurricanes, the Asian tsunami and global warming have led to serious economic, social and environmental consequences (Gunarathne & Lee 2015) These incidents drew the increased attention, both globally and locally, to the need for sustainable development (Hopwood et al 2005). In a bid to foster sustainability, world leaders responded by adopting the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in September 2015 and gave high priority to climate change, among other focus areas (United Nations 2016) Alongside these developments, growing public awareness coupled with increasing media attention has forced corporations to address environmental concerns by adopting cleaner and safer environmental practices (Burritt et al 2002, Soonawalla 2006). While many organizations consider the environment as subject to risks that should be managed, some organizations have used environmental strategies prudently to generate competitive advantage while achieving economic success
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