




































AGORA International Journal of Economical Sciences, http://univagora.ro/jour/index.php/aijes 

ISSN 2067-3310, E-ISSN 2067-7669 

No. 1 (2023), pp. 108-114 

 

108 
 

HARMONIZATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING - 

TOOL FOR MANAGING ECONOMIC RECONFIGURATION 

 

S.-G. STANESCU, M.-D. COMAN, C.-A. IONESCU, D.-M. COMAN 

 

Sorina-Geanina Stanescu¹, Mihaela-Denisa Coman², Constantin-Aurelian Ionescu³, 

Dan-Marius Comanº  

Institute of Multidisciplinary Research for Science and Technology, Valahia University of 

Targoviste, Romania  

¹ orcid.org/ 0000-0003-1219-3420, E-mail: geaninastanescu@yahoo.com  

² orcid.org/ 0000-0002-5070-5303 

³ orcid.org/ 0000-0001-6063-2921 

º orcid.org/ 0000-0003-4937-6327 

 

Abstract. The market economy implies the permanent optimization of an accounting 

system that ensures: modern methods, policies, and strategies compatible with the 

requirements of the current economy oriented towards the support of long-term sustainable 

economic activities. The increase in business relations' complexity has determined a 

profound revolution in management and implicitly in accounting as the main source of 

information and assistance in the decision-making process. Also, the awareness of the effects 

of economic activity on the environment leads to the reconsideration of the financial 

accounting system, by integrating environmental aspects, thus environmental managerial 

accounting contributes to providing relevant solutions and reporting adequate information. 

In this sense, this research presents the importance of streamlining all stages of organizing 

environmental management accounting to identify relevant solutions for managing adequate 

information and all existing resources available to economic entities. 

Keywords: environmental accounting, management, sustainability, information. 

 

INTRODUCTION  

Nowadays, environmental issues have become a common point of global concern. In 

today's economic context, one of the biggest challenges is to maximize economic benefits 

without harming the environment. Therefore, accounting must support sustainable 

development by providing basic information about the social and environmental impact of the 

entity. The development of the economy at the national and international level requires 

increasing efforts to find the most rational means of improving management accounting 

regarding environmental management in order to manage the resources necessary to 

reconfigure a sustainable economy (Kaya & Yokobori, 1997). Social economy takes into 

account the objectives of sustainable development, in the sense of responding to current 

needs without affecting future generations (Sneddon, Howarth, & Norgaard, 2006). 

The emergence of sustainability concept brought new terms to the theoretical plane that 

had to be conceptualized to become operational, such as: viability, vitality, sustainability, and 

sustainable development of an entity, activities, branches or even countries (Rogers, Jalal & 

Boyd, 2012). In 1987, the Bruntland Commission, in its final report "The Common Future", 

mailto:geaninastanescu@yahoo.com


Sorina-Geanina STANESCU, Mihaela-Denisa COMAN, Constantin-Aurelian IONESCU, 

Dan-Marius COMAN 

 

109 
 

defines sustainable development as development that meets the needs of the present without 

compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (Bruntland, 1987). 

Sustainability or sustainable development is a holistic approach that considers ecological, 

social and economic aspects, considering that these aspects must be considered together to 

achieve a level of long-term prosperity (Rogers, Jalal & Boyd, 2012). Sustainability in the 

business environment is not precisely defined, but rather resides in a series of 

recommendations and actions that do not only pursue immediate profits and leave a legacy 

for future generations of a sustainable economic environment and a cleaner planet. 

Thus, sustainable development represents that sustainable development, which focuses 

on the balance between social, ecological and economic elements, development that satisfies 

current needs, without compromising the ability of future generations to satisfy their own 

needs, offering us a framework of doing so to generate economic growth, achieve social 

justice, practice green stewardship and weigh governance with the aim of achieving 

sustainable long-term progress. 

 

I. The role of environmental management accounting in the sustainable development of 

the business environment 

In terms of the sustainable development of entities, the starting point is environmental 

accounting - a current theme, as it encompasses an in-depth study of environmental issues, 

both locally and globally, thus helping to improve the environment through highlighting the 

use of natural resources. 

The integration of the environment into the life of the entity requires taking it into 

account both at the technical, legal, economic, but also accounting and financial level 

(Morelli, 2011). 

Bartolomeo and collaborators analyze the notion of environmental management 

accounting, defined as the process of generating, analyzing and using financial and non-

financial information intended to support decisions in an entity (Bartolomeo et al., 2000). 

Bennett considered environmental management accounting as "the link between 

environmental management and management accounting" (Bennett, Bouma & Wolters, 

2002). Environmental management accounting is a combined approach that provides 

financial-accounting information, represented by costs and balances of material flows, to 

improve the efficiency of the use of these materials, reduce risk and impact on the 

environment, thus contributing to the reduction of environmental protection costs (Jasch, 

2003). 

According to the United Nations, environmental management accounting represents the 

identification and evaluation of the entire spectrum of environmental costs resulting from 

pollution prevention, as well as the integration of these costs and benefits in the decision-

making process (United Nations Division for Sustainable Development, 2001). 

Therefore, environmental managerial accounting has as its main object the production of 

useful information in decision-making (Stanescu et al., 2021). Such accounting ensures the 

sustainable development of the entity's activity and analyzes the costs and benefits related to 

the environmental impact on the activity, the contributions to the recognition of the high level 

of environmental taxes, capital and operating expenses generated by the use of pollution 



HARMONIZATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING - TOOL FOR 

MANAGING ECONOMIC RECONFIGURATION 

 

110 
 

control equipment. Environmental management accounting is a control tool that provides 

management with basic information for the decision-making system, which concerns the 

entity's internal management, but is of particular importance and constitutes the basis for 

reporting external environmental information. 

The environmental accounting system implemented at the level of economic entities 

contributes to complying with the requirements of sustainable development, through the 

value estimation of financial and non-financial information. Environmental accounting 

through the specific functions (figure 1) makes it possible to manage and analyze 

environmental costs, as well as to transmit the information obtained both internally and 

externally to the entity. 

Figure no. 1. The functions and role of environmental accounting 

 
Environmental managerial accounting has a decisive role in the processing of traditional 

financial information, however, it will also contribute to the evaluation and compliance with 

the accounting procedures approved by the management of the economic entity regarding the 

situation of environmental protection expenses by analyzing: i) the existence of supporting 

documents corresponding to the registered environmental operations; ii) the veracity of the 

operations and the analysis of their usefulness; iii) compliance with the legal provisions and 

the decisions of the entity's management regarding the way to complete the documents; iv) 

correction of errors according to legal provisions; v) the authenticity of the documents that 

were the basis of the registered operations; vi) compliance with the procedure regarding the 

flow of documents; vii) compliance with the accounting procedures approved by the 

management of the economic entity. 



Sorina-Geanina STANESCU, Mihaela-Denisa COMAN, Constantin-Aurelian IONESCU, 

Dan-Marius COMAN 

 

111 
 

 

II. Measuring and assessing the sustainability of a business 

Entities through decision-makers can use the information provided by environmental 

management accounting to make decisions that can eliminate the negative effects that 

influence the financial performance of the entity and the environment. The identification of 

environmental costs and their recognition in the accounting of the entity related to a product, 

work, service or economic system is necessary to make relevant and successful managerial 

decisions. Knowing and managing current, future and possible environmental costs is a 

starting point for achieving the objective of minimizing environmental costs, strengthening 

recovery activities and streamlining environmental performance. 

Information on environmental costs is determined throughout the managerial process to 

substantiate reliable decisions regarding production cost modelling. 

The data obtained are particularly valuable for management initiatives aimed at specific 

environmental objectives. Environmental Management Accounting / Environmental 

Management Accounting provides not only the cost data needed to assess the financial 

impact of these initiatives, but also the physical consumption data (raw material use and 

renewal rate) that help characterize how these initiatives will had an impact on the 

environment. 

Their role is to identify and properly collect physical data that can lead to the 

improvement of the decision-making process within the entity. Environmental data is no 

exception. 

Figure no. 2. Environmental accounting - essential factor in assessing the progress of a 

sustainable economy in the long term 

 



HARMONIZATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING - TOOL FOR 

MANAGING ECONOMIC RECONFIGURATION 

 

112 
 

In order to measure and evaluate the degree of sustainable development of an entity, 

need a series of the most relevant indicators, in accordance with the activity carried out, 

which reflect reality in the pursuit of predetermined objectives (Ionescu et al., 2020). By their 

nature, indicators are used to measure a variable appropriate to the achievement of the 

proposed goal, the desired resources, the effects to be achieved, the quality index or 

conjuncture variables. The objective of non-financial indicators is to establish a performance 

measurement system that allows the entity to determine the defining elements that make up 

long-term financial performance. 

  The interest given to these indicators stems from the awareness of the fact that the 

financial indicators that measure performance are by their nature: simplistic measures of 

results; far from being familiar and intuitive for the people who generate the operations 

(Diaconu & Albu, 2003), instead the non-financial indicators complement the financial ones, 

better characterizing the company's performance, because they directly touch sensitive points 

of the organization (Robu & Sandu , 2006). 

 

III. Management tools needed to reflect environmental impact in accounting 

Traditional accounting does not correspond to the new requirements to reflect the 

environmental impact in accounting, thus, the adoption of new methods and instruments 

specific to environmental accounting is essential. Integrating environmental management 

tools into the day-to-day management process can, theoretically, be a problem, given the fact 

that leaders normally use financial data to coordinate their activity. In this context, the 

environmental management system, standards, environmental audit play a particularly 

important role: they provide a framework for the creation of several technical instruments for 

measuring, monitoring or evaluating environmental impact. For entities, environmental 

accounting has the role of increasing the efficiency and effects of the environmental 

protection measures taken within them and to keep records of environmental expenses and 

income, to report and reflect them in the financial statements. 

Table 1. Classification of environmental management tools according to purpose and the 

data they use 

Information used or 

provided 

Piloting tools Monitoring tools Control tools 

Financial Environmental budgets 

The green dashboard 

Evaluation of 

environmental accounts 

Environmental accounts 

Environmental indicators 

Environmental audit 

Physical Environmental budgets 

The green dashboard 

The eco-balance 

Environmental indicators Eco Balance 

Environmental audit 

Qualitative ISO 14001 standard 

The EMAS standard 

 Environmental audit 

Surce: Bennett et al. (2002) 

 

 



Sorina-Geanina STANESCU, Mihaela-Denisa COMAN, Constantin-Aurelian IONESCU, 

Dan-Marius COMAN 

 

113 
 

Text Non-financial indicators are an important part of the performance of an economic 

entity. The success of an entity is the team within it, but it must also be supported by a human 

resources policy aligned with the business strategy. The connection of strategic objectives 

with performance, performance monitoring through indicators and their concretization 

represented and represent the crucial challenge of any economic entity. 

Performance indicators help quantify the realization of a result, providing visibility into 

the performance of individuals, teams, departments and organizations, allowing those who 

have decision-making power to take action towards the achievement of the intended goal. In 

financial management and operational accounting, there is a close connection between the 

level of customer satisfaction and the future performance of economic entities. 

 

CONCLUSIONS 

The growing pressure on economic entities both to reduce costs and to minimize the 

impact exerted by economic activity on the environment has contributed to their social and 

environmental responsibility. 

The consideration of environmental issues by international and national corporations, as 

well as by their leaders, is the result of a gradual evolution of the attitude of the entities, 

starting in 1970. From an attitude of ignorance and denial regarding environmental issues, 

today, more and more entities consider environmental performance as an important element 

of their business strategy. 

In order to ensure the success of the harmonization of environmental managerial 

accounting, it is necessary that the three major objectives presented previously (economic, 

environmental and social) be fulfilled simultaneously. Harmonization is the process by which 

the managerial accounting of the environment needs to be put on its normal course of 

fulfilling its objectives and functions, thus contributing to the better management of 

resources, to the practice of efficient management over long periods of time. At the 

microeconomic level, the management accountant is the one who will have to design, 

implement and correctly manage all the environmental managerial accounting activity, on 

which the practice of high-performance management depends to a great extent.  

Currently, the realization of an integrated system of indicators encounters many 

difficulties, in the sense that the impact of the approach remains limited in areas such as 

measuring the scope of the potential to influence and monitoring progress on the researched 

topic. There are uncertainties especially in the methodological aspect, such as: the object of 

the measurement, the method of measurement, the spatial limits and time horizons, the 

influence of the different measurement of the variables on the use of the indicator 

frameworks. 

 

 

REFERENCES 

Journal papers 

Bartolomeo, M., Bennett, M., Bouma, J. J., Heydkamp, P., James, P., & Wolters, T. 

(2000). Environmental management accounting in Europe: current practice and future 

potential. European Accounting Review, 9(1), 31-52. 



HARMONIZATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING - TOOL FOR 

MANAGING ECONOMIC RECONFIGURATION 

 

114 
 

Ionescu, C. A., Coman, M. D., Paschia, L., Gudanescu Nicolau, N. L., & Stanescu, S. G. 

(2020). Sustainable Economic Intelligence: A New Dimension of Information Provided by 

Non-Financial Indicators. Improving Business Performance Through Innovation in the 

Digital Economy, 117-143. 

Jasch, C. (2003). The use of Environmental Management Accounting (EMA) for 

identifying environmental costs. Journal of Cleaner production, 11(6), 667-676. 

Morelli, J. (2011). Environmental sustainability: A definition for environmental 

professionals. Journal of environmental sustainability, 1(1), 2. 

Robu, V., & Sandu, R. (2006). Problematica analizei performanţelor–o abordare critică 

în contextul teoriilor informaţiei şi guvernanţei corporative. Revista Economie Teoreticǎ şi 

Aplicatǎ, 8, 15-28. 

Sneddon, C., Howarth, R. B., & Norgaard, R. B. (2006). Sustainable development in a 

post-Brundtland world. Ecological economics, 57(2), 253-268. 

Stanescu, S. G., Cucui, I., Ionescu, C. A., Paschia, L., Coman, M. D., Nicolau, N. L. G., 

... & Lixandru, M. L. (2021). Conceptual Model for Integrating Environmental Impact in 

Managerial Accounting Information Systems. International Journal of Environmental 

Research and Public Health, 18(4), 1791. 

Books 

Diaconu, P., & Albu, N. (2003). Contabilitate managerială aprofundată. Editura 

Economică. 

Kaya, Y., & Yokobori, K. (Eds.). (1997). Environment, energy, and economy: strategies 

for sustainability (pp. 16-26). Tokyo: United Nations University Press. 

Rogers, P. P., Jalal, K. F., & Boyd, J. A. (2012). An introduction to sustainable 

development. Earthscan. 

Edited Books 

Bennett, M. D., Bouma, J. J., & Wolters, T. J. (Eds.). (2002). Environmental 

management accounting: Informational and institutional developments (Vol. 9). Springer 

Science & Business Media. 

Documents from conferences 

Bruntland, G. H. (1987). Our common future. The World Commission on Environment 1 

and Development, 45-65. 

United Nations Division for Sustainable Development (2001), Environmental 

Management Accounting, Procedures and Principles.  New York and Geneva: United Nations 

Publications. 


