Top companies demonstrate their commitment to ‘green accounting’

Date: 02/07/1998

By Simon Coss

TOP executives from some of Europe's leading companies will visit Brussels next week to underline their commitment to the relatively new process of 'green accounting'.

The firms in question have all been selected as finalists in the second European Environmental Reporting Awards which will be presented at a ceremony next Tuesday (7 July).

The need for companies not only to take the impact of their activities on the environment into account when preparing their annual reports but also to publish their findings in a clear and accessible way has long been identified as a pressing concern by environmental campaigners.

"Environmental accounting is something which is really crucial. You cannot have transparency without it," said Martin Hiller of the World-Wide Fund for Nature.

In its simplest form, it merely involves keeping track of materials as they are used by businesses. "Even a nuclear power station operator should keep good environmental accounts. In that way you can say if this much material went into a plant, then it should all be accounted for at the end of the process," said Hiller.

This year's first prize is set to go to two companies: UK telecommunications giant BT and Danish biochemicals firm Novo Nordisk.

The judges claimed that they were particularly impressed by BT's Internet website. Novo Nordisk, which also won the top prize last year, was commended for including factors in its annual report which might have been thought of as negative, such as fines and other penalties imposed on the company.

"One of the most unusual features of the Novo Nordisk report is the company's absolute commitment to honesty," said the judges.

The Environmental Reporting Awards are organised by a consortium of leading accountancy organisations including the UK-based Association of Certified Chartered Accountants, Belgium's Institut des Réviseurs, the Nederlands Instituut van Register Accountants and the Danish Institute of State Authorised Public Accountants.

Report of the second European Environmental Reporting Awards, Brussels, 7.7.98.