The Feasibility of Environmental Accounting Information System (Eais) in Ethiopia

The Feasibility of Environmental Accounting Information System (EAIS) in Ethiopia

Tibebe Sirak
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P.O. Box 28628
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Abstract
Environmental issues become the major concern of the world. Studies show that manufacturing firms are major pollutant of the environment in developing nations. Like in most African countries environmental situation in Ethiopia is insecure, given the low levels of economic and human development. The natural environment is threatened by many “investments” activities, including climate change, vanishing biodiversity, and decreasing quantity of fresh water. To reduce the damage, Environmental Accounting Information System (EAIS) at organization level is equally important with strong environmental law at macro level. The objective of this paper is to show how Environmental Accounting information System is becoming important in Ethiopia. Key words: Management Accounting, Environmental Accounting, Environmental Management Accounting, Environmental Financial Accounting, Environmental cost Accounting, Environmental performance and environmental costs

1. Introduction
The traditional Accounting Information System puts no emphasis on environmental costs of an organization’s operations. As a result most firms, especially in developing nations, do not identify environmental costs. The United Nations Division for Sustainable development supports my statement above. The Division (2001, p.1) states:
Information on environmental performance of organizations might be available to some extent, but, internal company decision-makers, as well as those in public authorities, are seldom able to link environmental information to economic variables and are crucially lacking environmental cost information.
It is due to lack of general framework and condition to develop and implement environmental accounting information system and the

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