Reforms authors argue are needed for environmental reporting (Book Review Sample)

REFORMS AUTHORS ARGUE ARE NEEDED FOR ENVIROMENTAL REPORTING
MANDATORY REPORTING
The reforms that arise from the argument of the authors, Owen et al. (1997) places environmental reporting in the context of being either administrative or institutional reporting. They both function as complementary to each other, in bringing out the effective role of environmental reporting.
Though there is a distinction between the two reforms, as suggested by Owen et al. (1997), the initial role of environmental reporting is to develop environmental accounting mechanisms which were geared towards filling a gap between an increasing environmental regulation and a stagnant environmental reporting.
The European Union Action Programmes on the Environment, though not compulsory, have called upon enterprises to disclose, as part of their accounts, details of their environmental policy and activities and their expenses on the environment. The European commission 1993, 2001a also demanded enterprises t makes provision in their accounts for environmental risks and future environmental expenses. This calls are implemented in an administrative manner rather than institutional manner due the fact that it isn’t part of the organization as or enterprises policies and that the administration is required to carry out its fruitful implementation.
Several national accounting regulators did however honor the call. As a case study, only Spain and Denmark is cited in the paper. The Danish Environmental Act Chapter 5made it a requirement that over 3000 companies reveal in their yearly accounts a green report general, a information including a directors report, resource consumption report and an auditors’ report if there was an audit. Though there was no prescribed format, the demand for a resource consumption report has an inclination towards an eco-balance approach. This kind of demands by law gives no other choice to the administration except to abide by them, and often disregard attracts legal suits.
The compulsory reforms adopted by the Danish brought about significant environmental, organizational and economic benefits. Forty percent of the firms reported environmental improvements as s result of green report evaluation Bebbington (1999). This shows that the mandatory environmental reporting is helpful in the long run. It reinforces credibility and empowers the stakeholders.
Institutional environmental regulation however is prone to challenges due to the very fact that it is voluntary. This threatens the environ...