ABOUT THIS WEBSITE

This website is intended to be a source of comprehensive information on Environmental Management Accounting (EMA) for the international community. First launched in April 2002, the website will undergo a continuing process of updating and improvement as additional EMA information is added and new features are developed.

What is EMA?
Environmental Accounting (EA) is a broad term that is used in several different contexts, as illustrated below.

General Types of Accounting	Environmental Accounting Parallel
Management Accounting (MA): The identification, collection, estimation, analysis, & use of cost & other information for decision-making within an organization	Environmental Management Accounting (EMA): Management Accounting with a particular focus on materials & energy flow information and environmental cost information
Financial Accounting (FA): The development & reporting of financial information by an organization to external parties (e.g., bankers, stockholders)	Environmental Financial Accounting (EFA): Financial Accounting with a particular focus on reporting environmental liability costs and other significant environmental costs
National Accounting (NA): The development of economic & other information to characterize national income & economic health	Environmental National Accounting (ENA): National-level accounting with a particular focus on natural resource stocks & flows, environmental costs, externality costs, etc.

Information on this web site focuses primarily on the application of EA as a management accounting tool for internal business decisions, i.e., EMA.

EMA can be defined as the identification, collection, estimation, analysis, internal reporting, and use of materials and energy flow information, environmental cost information, and other cost information for both conventional and environmental decision-making within an organization.

 

 

The initial sponsor of this website is the US Environmental Protection Agency's (USEPA) Pollution Prevention Division (PPD). The PPD donated the content of its in-house website on Environmental Accounting and startup funds to support the design, launch, and initial maintenance of this new website. The UK Environment Agency has also provided some follow-up funding. Currently, funding and in-kind contributions are being sought to support ongoing updates and improvements to the site.