Uma introdução à discussão do passivo ambiental

Abstract

Availability of information to the community interested in the decision process is one of the aims of Accountancy as a science. The focus of the accountant’s work is the production of information concerning both, the economical and the financial situation of the entity. The accounting science, as a specific area of human knowledge, should go forward parallelly with the advances of technology, thus, should be open to its evolution and to the so fast changes of the modern world. Due to that, accountancy needs to be inserted in the context of practical accomplishment of the sustainable development, thus generating efficient accounting models, as well as, driving entrepreneurs towards a practical application of such models in order to satisfy the needs of the enterprise and, consequently, the interest of the society, particularly, in relation to the preservation of the natural environment. It can be stated that the environmental liability represents the obligations regarding preservation, recovery and protection of the environment, aiming at fitting the economical development to the ecological balance. Such obligations can emerge from preventive actions and from corrective policies, and the obligation can get serious when environmental laws are not respected and sanctions are imposed. The environmental liability is constituted in the daily life of the enterprise, which should always evaluate the environmental changes caused by the exploitation of its economical activities. In fact, the local society needs the enterprise, but on the other hand, the enterprise needs the support of the society in which it is inserted. Nevertheless, it should be emphasized that the needs of the company regarding counting on the support of the local society is larger, once without the consent of society the company will not last longer in the business market. It is by means of the social balance sheet that the companies render information to the society, and it is through that instrument that the company must prove that the onus it brings to society is advantageous for reasons such as, aggregating values to the local economy and to the local society, for respecting the worker’s human rights, or for playing an important role in the preservation of the local environment.