Environmental management accounting in the Taiwanese higher education sector: Issues and opportunities
International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education
ISSN: 1467-6370
Article publication date: 5 April 2013
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to address the issue of managing the major environmental costs from an accounting perspective. The current state of practices for managing the costs associated with the consumption of electricity, water and paper, as well as the generation of wastes within three universities in Taiwan, was investigated. The costs mentioned above were termed “major” environmental costs for the purpose of this study.
Design/methodology/approach
Being an exploratory study, the paper followed a qualitative, case study methodology. A multiple‐case design was chosen and three Taiwanese universities were investigated. The major source of data collection was through face‐to‐face interviews. However, available resources were also examined, such as the charts of accounts, annual reports, strategic plans, sustainability reports and information disclosed on the web‐pages of the three universities.
Findings
The findings demonstrated that there appeared to be a general absence of environmental management accounting (EMA) utilisation to manage the major environmental costs by the three universities. Efforts to improve environmental performance, in particular from an accounting perspective, were still lacking.
Originality/value
The study contributes significantly to the following areas: providing specific information about how the major environmental costs are accounted for and managed; identifying limitations of current management accounting systems being used for the purpose of managing environmental costs; and extending the applicability of EMA to the higher education (HE) sector.
Keywords
Citation
Chang, H. (2013), "Environmental management accounting in the Taiwanese higher education sector: Issues and opportunities", International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, Vol. 14 No. 2, pp. 133-145. https://doi.org/10.1108/14676371311312851
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2013, Emerald Group Publishing Limited