Water Accounting

Abstract

The urgent solutions required to avoid the increasingly frequent floods and droughts and many other issues regarding water access and management made water a subject that has attracted the attention of many – as they did with accounting professionals. Since businesses are among the largest consumers of freshwater worldwide, corporate engagement with water issues is required to safeguard the organization’s license to operate. Corporate Water Accounting then allows companies to determine the impacts of their water use and discharges on communities and ecosystems, evaluate their water-related material risks, track the effects of changes in their water management practices, and credibly report them to their stakeholders. Therefore, this theoretical essay addresses water issues within the accounting field by recognizing three interrelated approaches that drive corporate water accounting implementation - Water Risk, Water Resources Management, and Water Reporting. We acknowledge its concepts, some useful tools, and its most concerning challenges while tracing its current state, especially in Brazil, and our future expectations for water accounting development. Furthermore, based on the theoretical contributions discussed, we point out some challenges managers face and future research opportunities. We expect more accounting professionals and researchers to engage with corporate water accounting to overcome the gaps that challenge the field's development.