Potentials for Environmental Management Accounting In an "Ordinary" Company : A Study of a Building and Construction Company

• As a result of the growing concern in society of sustainable development researchers have paid more and more attention to topics like corporate social responsibility, environmental accounting, environmental management accounting (EMA). Advocates for EMA regard it as the fifth stage in the evolution of management accounting, but many organizations still have the focus on the first two stages: cost determination and financial control, and the provision of information for management planning and control. The aim of the paper is to investigate constraints and facilitators for taking environmental considerations in decision making, in order to uncover potentials for EMA in a company. A major Swedish building and construction company is studied by the collection of both qualitative and quantitative data. It is concluded that the organizing of operations by projects with set timelines and budgets implies a main focus on costs and with limited space for taking sustainability and environmental aspects into consideration, more than what is legislated or agreed upon in the industry. And, if decision makers want to take environmental considerations they lack information and knowledge. However, there are opportunities for increasing sustainability and environmental considerations. First by align issues of sustainability and environment with issues of quality and long term costs and second by taking advantages of opportunities brought by new contractual form regulating building and construction projects.

Nyckelord

Environmental management accounting

Project

Multi-Project Organization

Building and Construction Industry

Humanities and Social sciences

Humaniora-samhällsvetenskap

Publikations- och innehållstyp

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