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Environmental accounting: Neo-classical framework or alternative?

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Summary

Traditional environmental accounting framework is based on a neo-classical economic theory that treats environmental assets and liabilities as if their contribution to economic acitivity were similar to that of conventional, marketed assets and liabilities. The ‘environment’ is viewed as a producer of outputs consumed by other productive economic sectors. It is proposed in this article that the environment is not only a producer of outputs, but also an output itself. The environment requires not only its protection, but importantly its continual improvement. Under this framework environmental accounting as a discipline is split into two categories: corporate environmental accounting and social environmental accounting. Two information streams exist under this framework: products-oriented information and environment-oriented information.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Staffordshire University, ST4 2DF, Stoke-on-Trent, UK

    Simon S. Gao

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  1. Simon S. Gao
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Dr Simon S. Gao is a Senior Lecturer in the Accounting and Finance Division of the Business School at Staffordshire University. He obtained a BA in Economics in 1993, and an MA in Accounting and Finance, in 1987, both from Shaanxi Institute of Finance and Economics, China. He was recently awarded a PhD from Faculty of Economics, Erasmus University Rotterdam (The Netherlands). His research intersts include among others, environmental accounting and reporting, environmental cost and risk analysis, and environmental asset management. He has published papers widely on accounting and finance issues.

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Gao, S.S. Environmental accounting: Neo-classical framework or alternative?. Environmentalist 15, 108–114 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01901294

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01901294

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