?environmental Accounting: Tool to Increase the Efficiency of the Company

ENVIRONMENTAL ACCOUNTING: TOOL TO INCREASE THE EFFICIENCY OF THE COMPANY

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ENVIRONMENTAL ACCOUNTING: TOOL TO INCREASE THE EFFICIENCY OF THE COMPANY

By Gerardo Cárdenas

In today´s internacional economy, It is necessary to know how to present the economic facts from real and understandable figures, in order to generate clarity about the company's state for make the right decisions about the Company, however, not all economic facts are easy to quantify as a car or a house, for example the environmental effects, are complex to reflect the economic impact in the short or long term, an understandable option to add these items to the accounting of the company, is to hire an accountant with knowledge of environmental sustainability, but, this proposes a question, is the environmental meter really necessary for a company? Following is a series of arguments to identify whether or not this charge is necessary.

First, the current regulations require companies to present environmental indicators on their operations. With decree 1072 of 2015, it was established among the general aspects of the document, that the companies would be added to the environmental management system, which should have some aspects such as waste management, the placement of the ecological point, environmental noise , Lighting Conditions, Electromagnetic Radiation, Air Quality, Water Quality and Meteorological Factors, this aspect implies an additional weight in the operation and is something that not any person can perform without due knowledge.

on the other hand, not knowing the environmental effects of the company's activities, does not make it immune to being punished for crimes or environmental damage, for example, Petrobras Colombia Combustibles S.A was the company with the largest environmental fine in 2016, due to water and soil contamination with hydrocarbons. The sanction amounts to more than $ 4,474 million pesos and was imposed in August 2016, if this big Company received such a serious sanction, means that the environmental authorities, are pending of the companies and if these last ones don´t operate according to these aspects, they can fall in monetary or legal inconveniences.

Third, managing and quantifying environmental facts as economic facts, allows the company to be more aware of its activities and, if possible, will reduce the impact it generates on the environment, in order to become more efficient and generate less environmental and administrative expenses, for example, avoiding the waste of water in the bathrooms, will immediately reduce the expenses in the water service, the use of energy saving light bulbs will be good for the expenses of the company and also for the environment.

Finally, it can be concluded that the contracting