AN EVALUATION OF THE IMPACT OF ENVIRONMENTAL ACCOUNTING ON THE MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY

ABSTRACT

This project work is based on “an evaluation of the impact of environmental accounting on the manufacturing industry the statement of the problems of this research work is to help us evaluate the impact of environmental accounting on the manufacturing industry. From the assessment carried out on the disclosure report in the financial statement of Nigeria industries, it was discovered that there are: Lack of environmental awareness, Lack of perceived benefit, Lack of government pressure and Lack of environmental audit.  This study is also  to present the impact of environmental accounting and reporting practices of manufacturing industries of  Nigeria, other specific objectives are: To find out whether there is significant relationship between environmental awareness and environmental accounting in the manufacturing industry in  Nigeria. To find out if manufacturing industries in Nigeria has apparently benefited from environmental accounting system. To find out if government pressure has significant impact on application of    accounting in Nigeria manufacturing industry. To find out the impact of environmental audit on financial statement of manufacturing industries. A survey research method was used which entailed the distribution of eighty (80) copies of questionnaires; the gathered were thereafter analyzed using Z-test techniques.  The major finding of this study  is that,  Environmental accounting enhances the quality of decision-making, requiring organizations to establish a baseline (standard) of its greenhouse gas emissions, energy usage, resource usage and other key environmental indicators, Reductions targets and a realization of the importance of changing . It is therefore recommended that standard/baseline on environmental issues be identified and the use of Graphical indicators be adopted illustrating to users on a timely basis whether the organization is performing above, below, or in-line with the targets so that corrective actions can be taken as needed to successfully execute on sustainability initiatives unsustainable consumption and production patterns alongside protecting and managing Nigerian natural resources.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

11    BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Managers within organization are coming under increased pressure to not only reduce costs, but also to minimize the environmental impacts on their operations. Unfortunately a substantial impact on the environment has left Nigeria with an enormous economic, social, and environmental legacy. Most environmental degradations and emissions are anthropogenic, an advent traceable to the industrial revolution of late 18th century where economic activities in many communities moved from agriculture to manufacturing. Production shifted from its traditional locations in the home and the small workshop to factories. The overall amount of goods and services produced expanded dramatically. New groups of investors, businesspeople, and managers took financial risks and reaped great rewards.In the long run the industrial revolution has brought economic improvement for most people in industrialized societies. Many enjoy greater prosperity and improved health. There have been costs, however. Industrialization has brought factory pollutants and greater land use, which have harmed the natural environment (Mastrandrea and Schneider, 2008).

Environmental accounting is an inclusive field of accounting. It provides reports for both internal use, generating environmental information to help make management decisions on pricing, controlling overhead and capital budgeting, and external use, disclosing environmental information of interest to the public and to the financial community. Internal use is better termed environmental management accounting (Bartolomeo et al., 2000).

Environmental accounting is the identification and reporting of environment specific costs, such as liability costs or waste disposal costs. It is also defined is as accounting for any costs and benefits that arise from changes to a firm’s products or processes, where the change also involves a change in environmental impacts.Environmental accounting is a subset of accountingproper, its target being to incorporate both economic and environmental information. It can be conducted at the corporate level or at the level of a national economy through the National Accounts of Countries (among other things, the National Accounts produce the estimates of Gross Domestic Product otherwise known as GDP).

Environmental accounting is a field that identifies resource use, measures and communicates costs of a company’s or national economic impact on the environment. Costs include costs to clean up or remediate contaminated sites, environmental fines, penalties and taxes, purchase of pollution prevention technologies and waste management costs. An environmental accounting system is consisted of environmentally differentiated conventional accounting and ecological accounting. Environmentally differentiated accounting measures effects of the natural environment on acompany in monetary terms. Ecological accounting measures the influence a company has on the environment, but in physical measurements, (Wikipedia, 2013).The accounting environment can include activities such as accounting systems that enhance the ability to detect Recording and reporting the work of destruction and environmental pollution and environmental-based integration as a source of Capital and consideration of environmental costs as an acceptable cost of computational processes and economic,  (Sajad, et al , 2013).

1.2   STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The statement of the problems of this research work is to help us evaluate the impact of environmental accountingon the manufacturing industry. From the assessment carried out on the disclosure report in the financial statement of Nigeria breweries. It was discovered that there are:

1.  Lack of environmental awareness.

2.  Lack of perceived benefit

3.  Lack of government pressure

4.  Lack of environmental audit.

1.3   OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The objective of the study is to present the impact of environmental accounting and reporting practices of manufacturing industries of the Nigerian. Other specific objectives are:

1.          To find out whether there is significant relationship between environmental awareness and environmental accounting in the manufacturing industry in       Nigeria.

2.          To find out if manufacturing industries in Nigeria has apparently benefited from environmental accounting system

3.          To find out if government pressure has significant impact on application of     accounting in Nigeriamanufacturing industry.

4.          To find out the impact of environmental audit on financial statement    of

manufacturing industries.

1.4   RESEARCH HYPOTHESES

The associated hypotheses include:

H0:There is no significant relationship between environmental awareness and         environmental accounting in the manufacturing industry in Nigeria.

Hi:   There is significant relationship between environmental awareness and         environmental accounting in the manufacturing industry in Nigeria

Ho:  Manufacturing industries in Nigeria has not benefited from the concept of         environmental accounting system.

Hi:   Manufacturing industries in Nigeria has benefited from the concept of         environmental accounting system.

Ho:  Environmental audit has positive effect on the financial statement of            manufacturing industries.

Hi:   Environmental audit has no positive effect on the financial statement of                 manufacturing industries.