Journal of Business Ethics (2006) 68:393–408
Springer 2006

DOI 10.1007/s10551-006-9029-1

Environmental Management Accounting:

A Case Study Research on Innovative
Strategy Maria J. Masanet-Llodra

ABSTRACT. The aim of this paper is to conduct an KEY WORDS: accounting information systems, case
in-depth study on environmental management systems study research, environmental accounting, environmental
developed in the ceramic tiles sector. This study is awareness, environmental communication, environmen-
conceived as an improvement on a previous survey tal management, innovative strategy.
related to an environmental diagnosis of the ceramic
tiles sector where some incongruities between envi-
ronmental explicit speeches and environmental actions
Introduction
were detected. Such incongruities revealed that firms
assumed to be highly environmental committed while
from facts this commitment was not so high proved. The environment is becoming a very current topic.
So, it was necessary to introduce case study research Nowadays, environmental issues are more appreci-
methodology to clarify and to understand the reasons of ated in our society and much more people are
these inconsistencies. The main objectives of our case concerned with them. Environmental awareness, to
study research are two. The first one consists in a certain extent, could be considered as an emerging
determining the relationship between firms and value in our society.
environment, analysing environmental positions in In such a context, the business world is trying to
companies assumed in their environmental strategy and incorporate the new value society has concerning
their environmental behaviour reflected in facts, while the environment. Such incorporation can be
the second one attempts to establish the role played by
achieved by adopting environmental management
the accounting information system in the environ-
systems which can be developed as a strategic vari-
mental management systems of the companies in the
sector. Our case study research reveals the elaboration able in firms’ management. These systems need to be
of a larger amount of environmental accounting articulated around an information system that helps
information for internal use than for external one. This to analyse the different interactions between firms
fact is due not only to the inexistence of regulations and environment.
about environmental disclosures in Spain, at that time, An environmental management system is stated
but also to the importance of environmental internal by the definition established by European Com-
accounting information for management which supports munities (2000) as:
the prevalence of decision-usefulness theory in the
implementation of environmental management systems. ‘‘Part of the management system that includes the
organisational structure, the liabilities, the practice, the
procedures, the processes and the resources to deter-
mine and to undertake an accurate environmental
policy.’’
Lecturer of Management Accounting in the Department of
Finance and Accounting of the University Jaume I of Cas- Our analysis attempts to understand the
tellon (Spain). PhD in Business Management, with a focus development and implementation of environmental
on Environmental Management Accounting. Participant in management systems in a particular business sector:
several research funding programmes related to Environmental the ceramic tiles sector in Spain. This sector has been
Management in Spain, Scotland and Guatemala. chosen, basically, for two reasons:
394 Maria J. Masanet-Llodra

Firstly, this sector is considered to be one of the ment Systems: Specification with Guidance for Use
industrial sectors with high potential impacts on the (ISO, 1996) have provided a new challenge for
environment, since it includes enamels, glazes, pig- global1 businesses, due to the introduction of an
ments and colourings it could be assimilated to the environmental perspective in managing them in
chemistry sector which appears as one with high addition to the economical one. Following this
environmental potential impacts in the United argumentation Rezaee and Szendi (2000, p. 124)
Nations’ classification. posit that:
Secondly, it represents a very dynamic sector in
Spain whose main characteristic is the adoption of an ‘‘Global businesses have found it necessary to respond
to emerging environmental issues by taking a more
innovative strategy in order to survive. That might
proactive stance by embracing voluntary environ-
suppose a greater flexibility to introduce new values,
mental initiatives.’’
for instance environmental issues.
From a previous survey about the ceramic tiles Besides, industry experts attribute to ISO 14000
sector in Spain in 1998 an initial diagnosis of its with the potential to improve business performance
environmental position was established (Masanet- and to exceed the benefits provided by ISO 9000,
Llodra, 1999). This initial diagnosis revealed that related to quality management systems (Cahill,
only a very poor minority of firms were concerned 1998). Among other potential benefits may be dis-
with establishing environmental management sys- tinguished: energy savings, lower cost of compliance
tems, although the majority of them proclaimed with environmental regulations, waste reduction and
their environmental awareness. more efficient processes.
In order to clarify this and other incongruities The environmental management system’s certifi-
between facts and revealed speeches on environ- cation stimulates positive changes in the environ-
mental issues in the organisational context, it was mental management goals of organisations, thus
necessary to introduce case study research method- allowing for improvements in environmental per-
ology. For undertaking our case study research we formance, since a continuous improvement of the
established the following two main objectives: company’s environmental management is required
for achieving the abovementioned certification.
• The determination of the relationship These improvements may be associated to
between firms and environment, analysing improvements in economic performance through
environmental positions in companies as- competitiveness (McGee, 1998; Porter, 1990, 1991;
sumed in their environmental strategy and Porter and van der Linde, 1995a, b). Such com-
their environmental behaviour reflected in petitiveness would be translated into positive out-
facts. comes for organisations, derived from higher
• The establishment of the role played by the turnover through the ‘‘green’’ customers segment,
accounting information system in the envi- lower cost caused by compliance with environ-
ronmental management systems of the com- mental legislation and better resources management,
panies in the sector. increased productivity generated by more efficient
management of resources and, finally, total quality
management covering the life cycle of the product
Environmental management systems and from design to disposal.
accounting These findings suggest that companies will be
under increased monitoring to ensure compliance
A number of studies (Barth and McNichols, 1994; with both voluntary and mandatory environmental
Blacconiere and Patten, 1994; Power, 1997; Shields standards, which will result in greater demand for
and Boer, 1997; Walden and Schwatz, 1997) found, environmental accounting as an information system.
among other results, that voluntary environmental The definition of environmental accounting we
initiatives such as ISO (International Organization defend is very broad, as the following by Houldin
for Standardization) 14001 Environmental Manage- (1993, p. 6) who agrees that it includes:
 Environmental Management Accounting 395

‘‘The range of responses by companies to environ- the organisation. Management and financial
mental issues in reviewing their environmental posi- accounting can serve to identify material flows and
tion, developing and implementing policies and to associate costs to them. Due to the fact that there
strategies to improve that position and in changing are no generally accepted standards for environ-
management systems to ensure ongoing improvement mental accounting, Schaltegger and Burritt (2000, p.
and effective management.’’
372) restrict its application to internal use:
Schaltegger et al. (1996) emphasise the importance
‘‘As no generally accepted standards for ecological
of exploring more accurate and precise measures for accounting exist today, perhaps the range of applica-
the physical flows (of energy, materials, waste, etc.) tion should be limited to internal use by managers,
and their associated costs. The accounting system especially for comparisons between individual sites or
could be employed to seek out, identify and exploit divisions of a company over time, until a standard is
financial savings in resources usage, waste and energy agreed.’’
emissions that would necessarily lead to reductions
in the corporations’ environmental impacts (Bennett The empirical research that is going to be conducted
and James, 1997a, b; Ditz et al., 1995). Larrinaga- falls within that internal use of environmental
Gonzalez and Bebbington (2001, p. 277) consider accounting and attempts to analyse the development
that: of environmental management and the role played
by accounting in the sector through the use of case
‘‘Environmental management initiatives undertaken study research methodology.
by the company required the accounting function to
become more integrated with the environmental
strategy.’’ Case study research methodology

The development of environmental management The case study research methodology is considered
systems requires the elaboration of records about the to be the most suitable when the research question
different processes involved, the activities associated asks ‘‘how’’ and ‘‘why’’, as well as when the
to those different processes and the formulation of researcher cannot manipulate directly, precisely and
objectives and specific goals, as well as the evaluation systematically events and there is a contemporary
of their accomplishment. Regardless of whether we focus in a real-life context (Yin, 1994, pp. 1–9).
refer to ISO 14001, EMAS2 (Environmental Man- This methodology differs from case study teach-
agement and Auditing System) (European Com- ing. For teaching purposes, the case does not need to
munities, 2000) or any environmental management contain the complete or accurate actual events, due
system it is necessary to collect information for to its aim is to establish a framework for discussion
evaluating and controlling the system. Accounting and debate among students. But case study research
allows the records to be elaborated in a sensible and needs to be concerned with the rigorous and fair
structured way, avoiding the proliferation of infor- presentation of empirical data. The focus on both
mation unable to meet requirements such as rele- methodologies is completely different, while teach-
vance, understandability, liability, comparability, ing cases bring out particular situations of business
consistency, verifiability, neutrality and representa- world in order to explain theories and the data may
tional faithfulness. be deliberately altered to demonstrate a particular
While certain information relating to employees point more effectively, research cases make a deeply
and environmental issues may already exist in the study of a real-life case for the purpose of under-
information system, most of it will not be system- standing the reasons of some events.
atically collected and will also require readjustments The findings of case study research, like experi-
generated by the environmental flow system (Gray ments, are able to be generalised to theoretical
et al., 1996). In order to formalise and to provide a propositions and not to populations or universes,
connection to this sort of information, accounting because with this methodology the researcher’s goal is
may be extremely helpful by acting as a mechanism to generalise theories (analytic generalisation) and not
of both communication and control of any data in to enumerate frequencies (statistical generalisation).
396 Maria J. Masanet-Llodra

Following Lipset et al. (1956, pp. 419–420), the goal needs to be completed with the information of their
in case study research is to perform a ‘‘generalisation’’ inside working.
instead of a ‘‘particular’’ analysis. Therefore, case Case study research should also fulfil the same
study research enables us to abstract from theory, al- requirements that any other methodology in social
though obviously it does not allow inference to the sciences for being considered as a rigorous research
whole population, but to the validation of the theory, method, namely (Kidder and Judd, 1986, pp. 26–
as if it were a laboratory experiment. 29):
Case study research methodology is being
defended by a growing group of academics. The • Construct validity: establishing correct opera-
argumentation of Yin (1994, pp. xiii) points out that: tional measures for the concepts being stud-
ied.
‘‘Case study research continues to be used extensively • Internal validity: establishing a causal rela-
in social science research – including the traditional
tionship, whereby certain conditions are
disciplines (psychology, sociology, political science,
shown to lead to other conditions, as distin-
anthropology, history and economics) as well as
practice-oriented fields such as urban planning, public guished from spurious relationships.
administration, public policy, management science, • External validity: establishing the domain to
social work and education. The method also is a fre- which a study’s findings can be generalised.
quent mode of thesis and dissertation research in all • Reliability: demonstrating that the operations
these disciplines and fields.’’ of a study, such as the data collection proce-
dures can be repeated, with the same results.
The case study research allows for the use of a huge
variety of evidence, such as documentation, archival In general terms, for achieving validation in a
records, interviews, direct observation, participant research project with this methodology, it is nec-
observation and physical evidence for achieving essary to make use of multiple sources of evidence
validation and reliability. in order to corroborate the information. There-
For case study research, the most important use fore, it is very useful to establish evidence chains,
of documents is to corroborate and increase evi- in addition to getting a reviewed report by key
dence from other sources. However, most archival informers with the aim of obtaining reliability. In
records are produced for a specific purpose (dif- accounting the financial reports must be validated
ferent than the case study research in process) and by auditing. The auditor makes a reliability test
their usefulness depends on the particular case that should allow anyone else to achieve the same
study. results by using the same procedures. The same
Although interviews are more associated to the method should be followed in the construction of
survey method, they are essential sources of case study a case study research in order to ensure its vali-
research, which are usually designed with an open- dation and reliability.
ended nature in the latter methodology. This design
allows to ask respondents for the facts of a matter as
well as for the respondents’ opinion about events. Designing the case study research
Direct observation is often useful in providing
information through making a field visit to the case Our analysis about the development and imple-
study’s site. Participant observation is a special mode mentation of environmental management systems in
of observation in which the researcher is not merely the ceramic tiles sector was undertaken with a single
a passive observer, because it permits the researcher case study research due to the following peculiarities:
to assume a variety of roles within a case study sit-
uation and to inclusively participate in the events • Environmental management is scarcely
being studied. implemented in the sector, as our previous
Finally, the use of physical evidence is related to empirical research about the ceramic tiles
technological devices, tools or instruments, works of sector showed as an initial diagnosis of its
art or other physical evidence in which observation environmental situation. Only companies
 Environmental Management Accounting 397

that were classified as more advanced clusters critical case that can generate a significant contri-
were introducing environmental manage- bution to knowledge and theory-building, or it can
ment systems. Thus, it would be worthless even help to refocus future investigations in an entire
to perform one case study for each of the field. The second one, in the circumstance of rep-
obtained clusters that meant different levels resenting an extreme or unique case and the last
of environmental awareness; due to in the circumstance is known as a revelatory case. This
other clusters the firms had not developed situation exits when a researcher has an opportunity
any environmental management system. In- to observe and analyse a phenomenon previously
deed, in those clusters firms only declared a inaccessible to scientific investigation, so it is worth
number of good intentions, a fact which was conducting because the descriptive information
not still reflected in their policies or business alone will be revelatory (Yin, 1994, pp. 38–41).
strategies. Such a level of informality makes The criteria for choosing our case study research’s
it impossible to conduct any rigorous case firm were related to three main issues:
study research. Firstly, the identification of a firm with a really
• Difficulty in getting firms involved as case developed environmental management system and
study research’s subjects because of the pecu- not just a ‘‘good intentions’’ firm which has not
liarities of the sector itself, based on innova- formalised its environmental procedures. In our case,
tion as the main business strategy what we used the ISO 14001 standard as a discriminatory
generates a particular relationship of secrecy criterion because there were no firms in the sector
and opacity, and the object of study, that with EMAS verification and the development of
brings about some reluctance on environ- environmental management systems that were not
mental information disclosures by firms, externally validated or certified could jeopardise the
based on their beliefs that negative environ- existence of such systems. Alternatively, some firms
mental disclosures could lead to more restric- might have a real environmental management sys-
tive environmental legislation. tem without any external validation or certification
• The long period of time needed in the pro- but the assessment of this fact would require a period
cess, in this case in particular, where the firms of time to test that the system is really running and
are involved in initial stages of environmental that the firms are committed with it. In any case,
management systems’ development. There- looking for a validated or a certified firm implies
fore, information provision depends most of ensuring the existence of the environmental man-
times on its previous elaboration. The re- agement system from the beginning.
searcher is constricted to the needs of time the Secondly, due to the fact that it was an interactive
firms has for elaborating some information process, it was necessary to detect some motivation
and by its experimental character that makes by the firm to take part in it. By using participant
them going to improve it by time. observation as a source of evidence in the case study
research, the researcher interacts with the firm. So, it
The realisation of multiple case study research is, as is necessary to gain access to events or groups that are
we have just explained in the precedent paragraphs, otherwise inaccessible to scientific investigation.
impracticable at the present moment. However, in a Moreover, there was the time that the firm had to
near future, when environmental management sys- dedicate to the case study research. Unlike other
tems are more developed and their degree of research methodologies the data compilation in case
implementation becomes greater in sector’s firms, study research demands several field visits which
multiple case study research will be very suitable imply a great time dedication from the participating
because of their generation of cross data and causal firms.
relationships that enable replication. Finally, there was the importance given by the
All the same, the case study research methodology firm to environmental disclosures. This last charac-
recalls that a single case study is analogous to a single teristic was really decisive because the huge majority
experiment, so its use is accurate under several cir- of firms in the sector considered environmental
cumstances. The first one, when it represents the issues as a matter which was only concern of their
398 Maria J. Masanet-Llodra

own business, so they were not interested in dis- conducted in 1998. From this survey we ob-
closing environmental information. This particular tained several incongruities that served as a
firm considers that environmental disclosures mean a point of departure for establishing the objec-
real commitment with its stakeholders or interested tives of the present case study research.
parts in the firm’s environmental management. • Case study questions. The questions in our
Therefore, it declares to be keen to disclose envi- project were designed by adapting the ques-
ronmental information as an essential part of its tionnaire of our previous survey to its ob-
environmental management system. tained conclusions. Some of the questions
The firm was also very suitable because the were also redefined with several contribu-
environmental management system was imple- tions from the participating firm for making
mented and controlled by a production technician them suitable to the real context.
and a business manager, which allowed a balance to • Field procedures. Multiple sources of evidence
be struck between business and technical depart- have been used to carry out the corresponding
ments in the environmental management system. data validation, as case study research method-
Unlike most of firms in the sector where the envi- ology suggested. Of the six sources recognised
ronmental management system is just conducted by for evidence compilation, the five that follow
production technicians, which are more interested in were those that were mainly used in our case
technical measures than the generation of accurate study research: direct observation, participant
documentation for implementing an environmental observation, documents, archives and inter-
management system. views. But this did not exclude to appeal to
All these characteristics make our firm one of the physical evidence to recognise the operative-
large-sized firms in the sector which is representative ness of a particular database that was used in
of the sector population and render it a good can- the firm of our case study research, although it
didate for the study. was the only time that this source of evidence
was used. By examining the database print-
outs, the researcher was able to develop a
Case study research: objectives and broader perspective regarding all database
performance applications, beyond that which could be di-
rectly observed.
In the elaboration of our case study research we • The abovementioned information was com-
pursued two main objectives: piled via personal visits to the firm, as well
The first one consists in determining the rela- as by e-mail and by telephone. This research
tionship between firms and environment, analysing was conducted over a 7-month period from
environmental positions in companies assumed in March to September 2001.
their environmental strategy and their environmen- • Guide for case study report. During the pro-
tal behaviour reflected in facts, while the second one cess the firm had full information about its
attempts to establish the role played by the development and the different topics to be
accounting information system in the environmental discussed in any of the personal visits were
management systems of the companies in the sector. determined beforehand, which allowed the
In order to achieve these main objectives we firm to prepare all the documentation related
carried out the protocol3 of our case study research. to them. Thus, the firm coparticipated in the
According to Yin, (1994, pp. 63–77) the protocol is elaboration of the case study research by
a major tactic in increasing the reliability of case generating feedback with the researcher.
study research as well as a guide for the researcher in • Moreover, the last case study draft was given
carrying out the case study research, which should to the firm for approval in a final discussion
have the following sections: meeting. From this draft and any possible
amendments that might be agreed, the case
• Overview of the case study project. In our study report was drawn up. At this stage two
project it was derived from a previous survey personal visits were carried out in order to
 Environmental Management Accounting 399

reach the abovementioned agreement be- Investments in ‘‘clean technology’’ were carried
tween the researcher and the firm. In those out in the strategic plans of Ecoramic Tiles in 1998
issues where concurrence cannot be and included a whole press, kiln, selection, and
achieved, the different positions were stated glazing line with the innovative incorporation of
clearly and objectively in the report. rotary heads as a replacement for screen glazing. Al-
though these investments were not carried out
exclusively for environmental reasons, they did make
Environmental awareness development a notable contribution to the improvement of the
company environment. Dust depressing and sucking
In case study research methodology the researcher filters were also adopted, for purely environmental
jointly learns with the object of study as in other reasons, in the atomising and pressing process.
related methods such as ethnography and grounded In the period 1998–99, Ecoramic Tiles proceeded
theory. But these related methods deliberately avoid to make contact with environmental consultancies
specifying any propositions at the outset of an in- for the purpose of obtaining environmental diag-
quiry unlike case study research. Therefore, no noses in several departments of the firm. This new
guidance could be misleading in the latter method- approach was undertaken by determining the main
ology, and, among other considerations, the relevant environmental aspects and impacts of the organisa-
fields contacts depend upon an understanding of tion activity.
what is being studied. In order to understand the The generation of systematic documentation in
current state of affairs we investigated the back- Ecoramic Tiles began in 1999 with the aim of
ground to the environmental awareness of the firm achieving the environmental management system
of our case study research, called from now on its certification. The ISO 14001 certification requires
fictional name Ecoramic Tiles. documentation concerning the environmental pol-
Faced with the proliferation of environmental icy, the identification of aspects and impacts, the
laws and regulations, by 1998 the quality manager of assessment of objectives in order to attenuate sig-
Ecoramic Tiles had already considered the impor- nificant impacts, the quantification and planning of
tance of an environmental improvement in the firm. goals and records for evaluating the achievement of
This improvement was undertaken jointly with the goals, as well as auditing and training plans.
quality strategy, thus generating an environmental In Ecoramic Tiles there was a really swift pro-
management system that benefits from prior expe- gression from some technical environmental
rience in the quality management system. This par- improvements to the configuration of an integrated
ticular implementation has allowed paperwork to be environmental management system in order to
reduced and failings and improvements to be de- obtain the ISO 14001 certification. Such certifica-
tected more easily, as Houthuysen (2000) obtained tion was obtained in 2000, which meant formalising
in his experience in Lucent Technologies Micro- the environmental policy, objectives and strategies to
electronics Group in USA. In Ecoramic Tiles’ be developed by Ecoramic Tiles over a period of
experience we observed that the documentation about two years. Such a short-term process is quite
control, auditing and corrective/preventive actions usual in most organisations because as Pedersen and
programmes for achieving the quality certification Nielsen (2000, p. 35) explain:
ISO 9001 meant an important lowering of costs in
‘‘In the beginning the organisations face a very new
the implementation of the environmental certifica-
topic where just drawing up the forms is a very
tion ISO 14001, since the procedures are quite
complex process, but later the system itself allows them
similar in both certifications. Moreover, the quality to learn from it.’’
manager was reconverted to become the environ-
ment and quality manager, a role not performed At present, Ecoramic Tiles controls and improves its
until the present moment. Therefore, there is a environmental management system because its
clearly established connection between quality and objectives go beyond the legal requirements,
environmental management4. attempting to maximise its profitability through
400 Maria J. Masanet-Llodra

business competitiveness that is increasingly derived Environmental management system

from the implementation of its environmental
management system5. Although its investments were The strategic trend of Ecoramic Tiles is based on a
undertaken as productivity improvements in pro- permanent technological rationalization through
duction plants, environmental issues were taken into adopting the most innovative technologies on the
account. market. This characteristic in the general strategy of
In the process of continuous improvement of its Ecoramic Tiles is going to be maintained in its
environmental management, Ecoramic Tiles is environmental strategy. Therefore, its environmen-
developing some environmental management indi- tal improvements consist mainly in the incorporation
cators that will enable it to know its environmental of new technologies, which entail an important
situation in a simple and immediate way. This financial outlay. Such a procedure could enable
would be one of the channels that make up its Ecoramic Tiles to avoid the first logical phase of
information system, although it is still being elabo- developing environmental awareness, where envi-
rated. At present, environmental information is ronmental improvements do not mean important
quite difficult to obtain because it needs to be financial spending since they are related to the most
manually sought due to problems in the usage of sensible and obvious improvements, called ‘‘good
software. Ecoramic Tiles is running environmental practices’’7. In this case, however, both improve-
management software that will allow several ments have taken place. Thus, the first logical phase
departments to communicate and to be controlled of environmental awareness’ development has been
through a relational database, by using e-mails6. The jointly undertaken with the following phases which
electronic control of management systems not only do involve important financial expenditures. The
saves money, time and effort for the firm, but also reason for implementing the following phases jointly
adds value by facilitating accessibility to information with the first one is due to the general performance
(Harwood et al., 2000). of the sector, which is based not only on firms’ own
Overall, however, Ecoramic Tiles considers the environmental strategy but on an innovative strategy
information system to be the main mechanism with where some organisations are trying to gain com-
which to deepen the environmental awareness of petitive advantages through innovation in order to
human resources. Ecoramic Tiles understands that increase their market quota; later such innovations
the implementation of an environmental manage- are eventually adopted by others.
ment system relies on its human resources. In fact, Ecoramic Tiles considers that an environmental
periodical meetings with production plant managers management system may generate competitive
have been arranged to transmit the need for their advantages which outweigh merely improvements of
environmental projects to involve them. Neverthe- business image because they should also provide
less, it is getting hard to generate motivation as efficiency in the production management system
environmental issues are seen, more often than not, which would lead, for instance, to the identification
as extra work or overtime. of energy usage or disposal waste costs. In fact, we
Therefore, Ecoramic Tiles has developed several have to point out that profitability is required by a
training plans for its human resources related to great number of firms from their environmental
environmental awareness, which are a complement management systems, which means positive effects
to its environmental policies and strategies based on in their balance sheet through savings in raw mate-
the transmission of an environmental culture in the rials and energy, cost reductions for environmental
company through its information system. compliance, financing or assurances or through
Ecoramic Tiles knows that its human resources facilities in internal procedures. Furthermore, pro-
are crucial in achieving the environmental system ductivity or sales should increase due to the im-
certification ISO 14001 because it is one of the main proved image of the company (Fresner, 2000).
requirements of obtaining the certification itself. This required efficiency would be based, funda-
The same certification asks for the establishment of mentally, on the generation of a relevant informa-
periodical training plans for the company’s staff tion system that allows all business activities to be
related to environmental improvement. coordinated. Ecoramic Tiles conceives its environ-
 Environmental Management Accounting 401

mental management system as an important tool for staff – and especially for the sales staff so that they can
providing efficiency, so it is necessary to consider the transmit the firm’s environmental policy – towards
system itself within its general business strategy. An highly specialised outdoors courses aimed at pro-
environmental management system should be inte- viding managers with the needed skills to design and
grated in the business management system in order control the environmental strategy in the firm.
to be operative and to prevent the generation of an These training plans have, at the same time, been
obscure department that hinders the other depart- reinforced by incentives in environmental issues for
mental tasks. getting involved human resources in Ecoramic Tiles’
Management integration produces synergies due strategy. The main incentive has been the use of
to the fact that most of structured mature manage- promotions jointly with the assignment of greater
ment systems need cross verifications and validations environmental responsibilities to several members of
through management audits, inspections and revi- staff. These responsibilities have entailed the active
sions (Harwood et al., 2000). Furthermore, there are involvement of staff members in environmental
numerous case study researches where integration has tasks, thus allowing the implementation and control
generated added value in the decision-making pro- of its environmental management.
cedure for the company, customers and the whole Although Ecoramic Tile’s environmental strategy
community. The following are some examples of is restricted to its productive cycle, the company
such cases: Amec Process and Energy, UK (Carter, considers in order to be sustainable that it should
2000), Jebsen and Jebsen, Singapore (Toffel, 2000), expand its environmental strategy to a life-cycle
Lucent Technologies Microelectronics Group, USA process, from the ‘‘cradle to the grave’’. The main
(Houthuysen, 2000), Nike Inc., USA (Valero et al., key in the McDonough and Braungart Protocol
2000) and Waterford Crystal and Alstom Power, Principles is based on the understanding that in order
Newcastle, UK (Harwood et al., 2000). to consider a product as being ‘‘sustainable’’, it
The integration8 of an environmental manage- should waste equal resources, it should rely on
ment system within the general management of a current solar income and, furthermore, it should
firm has to be decided by top management as its respect biodiversity. In sum, it assumes a ‘‘cradle to
general business strategy. Thus, accurate mechanisms cradle’’ conception that refers not only to the life
for achieving an operative integration would also be cycle of the product but to the fact that it can be
provided. With this aim, Ecoramic Tiles draws up a reused as an organic or technical nutrient in a never-
report on the review of its environmental manage- ending life cycle (Mehalik, 2000).
ment system by top management where the purpose At this point, Ecoramic Tiles maintains that it
is to analyse several aspects of environmental man- only has a very slight influence on environmental
agement, such as internal and external auditing and issues in its chain of suppliers and customers10. In
relevant internal and external communications. any case, the environmental impacts generated out-
Special importance was given on this review to any side the productive process, such as the ones derived
suggestions, demands or complaints that had been from its usage, development, transport, distribution
made. Through this report Ecoramic Tiles attempts and services, are not reflected in the ISO 14001
to control its environmental objectives and make any certification (Pedersen and Nielsen, 2000). How-
possible adjustments required by the analysis of re- ever, in the selection of suppliers, Ecoramic Tiles
sults. The main value of this report lies in that it have established different criteria which take into
shows the top management’s perception concerning account environmental issues, from among others of
the deviations in implemented systems. varying weight, such as quality management system
Ecoramic Tiles is aware that the development and certification, environmental management system
operativeness of its environmental management certification, product or service quality, delivery
system rely on the engagement of its human re- times, technical assistance, prices, financial condi-
sources in its environmental management and so, it tions and facilities. Such weight depends on the
is trying to motivate and train its staff in the new characteristics of the product or service that is going
environmental strategy. Therefore, its training plans9 to be purchased11, but in any case the environmental
included from introductory indoors courses for all criteria are not predominantly used over the others.
402 Maria J. Masanet-Llodra

That implies that in Ecoramic Tiles a product or tion of environmental impact gives rise to
service is not likely to be refused as an input on some conflicts, such as licence refusals, nega-
exclusively environmental grounds. tive advertising campaigns and even lawsuits
(Tack, 2000).
Environmental communication system Ecoramic Tiles considers accounting to be a very
useful internal information system and attempts to
Environmental communication is considered to be improve its accounting information system day by
crucial in the development of an Environmental day. Therefore, the development of physical and
Management System. The general management and financial indicators and the preparation of a balanced
control of many documents of the environmental scorecard are understood to be necessary for envi-
management system includes most of the adminis- ronmental management in Ecoramic Tiles. So, it has
trative work, which implies the need for good been elaborated a number of indicators in order to
communication in the sense that everybody under- produce its balanced scorecard. There is no specific
stands what the documents are for and the reason pattern for designing balanced scorecards, since
they are needed (Ammenberg et al., 2000). On this environmental indicators will be designed by firms
matter the Environmental Manager of Ecoramic according to their own objectives and goals. The
Tiles literally declared that: firms should provide the data that allow them to
‘‘It is really impossible to conceive an operative envi- build the ratios for controlling and validating the
ronmental management system in an organisation degree to which their objectives are accomplished. It
where the information does not flow through its should be mentioned that although some economic
employees or within its environment.’’ indicators did exist in Ecoramic Tiles – principally
related to profitability and outcomes – they were not
Ecoramic Tiles distinguishes between internal and elaborated in a systematic and connected way that
external communication: permitted comparisons for the company over time
or with those of others or with the average ratios for
• Internal communication is performed in the tiles industry. Until Ecoramic Tiles needed to
Ecoramic Tiles in both directions, i.e. top- elaborate such indicators to obtain the environ-
down and bottom-up. The ‘‘top-down’’ mental certification there was no balanced scorecard
communication is made directly to any em- with economic indicators in the company. Its
ployee through environmental training environmental development has, then, favoured the
courses. While the ‘‘bottom-up’’ communi- elaboration of a balanced scorecard that gathers
cation is based on the participative environ- economic and environmental ratios, which proves
mental strategy adopted by the firm which that the introduction of an integrated environmental
encourages environmental communications management system improves business management.
by employees concerning possible improve- At present, Ecoramic Tiles is using economic-pro-
ments or any other related matter. duction indicators to evaluate efficiency and effec-
• For external communication Ecoramic Tiles tiveness in the productive process. Such evaluation is
uses leaflets, catalogues, specialised and gen- mainly performed through production cost trends.
eral press, internet, circulars to customers, Ecoramic Tiles aims to carry out a systematic control
plastic bags with advertising, etc. It also of- of the productive process’ indicators with a mini-
fers the possibility of organising informative misation plan, but this is in its initial phase of
workshops or collective visits or other suit- development.
able activities to foster the external spreading However, the utilization in external accounting of
of the firm’s environmental management. a sub-division of items which includes the envi-
The given importance to external communi- ronmental ones is not considered to be relevant,
cation came since many industries realised although that would increase transparency in
that the inexistence of external communica- Ecoramic Tiles’ Annual Report. In fact, Ecoramic
tions about their activities and their genera- Tiles does not show any interest in disclosing any
 Environmental Management Accounting 403

environmental information in its Annual Report, as environmental information system is circumscribed

evidence of the opacity and secrecy that exist within to just individual projects, mainly oriented to getting
a sector characterised by permanent technological funds in the form of subsidies or grants but it is not
rationalization. To this respect, Ecoramic Tiles used for decision making.
considers that environmental information should not In this initial stage of development of the envi-
be disclosed to any potential user because the ronmental information system in Ecoramic Tiles, the
required effort to elaborate that information does not environmental costs in which the company incurs
make it worthwhile at the present moment. At the become particularly relevant. This is because it will
same time Ecoramic Tiles does not consider these be necessary to quantify them when asking for
channels of communication to be the most suitable. subsidies, tax deductions or the determination of
Instead, it sees its own particular communication effective expenditure reductions due to the effi-
system, which consists in special communications to ciency reported by the environmental management
anyone requiring them, as being more appropriated. system.
Thus, its external environmental communication is Ecoramic Tiles considers that capitalisation or
based on particular responses to individual demands classification as expenses depends on the nature
instead of providing general information. Particular of the particular environmental cost. This approach
means of communication have also been used in is defended by the Féderation des Experts Comp-
Lucent Technologies Microelectronics Group, tables Européens (FEE, 1993) and the Emerging
USA, where Houthuysen (2000) emphasises the Issues Task Force (EITF, 1990) of the FASB ‘‘Issue
importance of environmental communication 90–8’’, which assesses that:
interactions through special committees within the
firm that act together with the potential requiring • Property, plant and equipment may be
parts to deal with aspects in conflict. acquired for safety or environmental reasons,
when increase directly or indirectly the
future economic benefits.
Environmental information system • Environmental costs can be capitalised, if
they are considered to be a cost of the
From Ecoramic Tiles’ organisational strategy based expected future benefits from the asset,
on generating efficiency in its production manage- regardless of whether there is any increase in
ment through its environmental management system economic benefits.
we can gather that the environmental information • In other cases, the environmental costs
system should be integrated at all business levels and should be counted as expenses and not
be useful for decision making. The environmental recognised as environmental.
information system consists of all the data concern-
ing environmental issues, from material balances to Thus, environmental information in Ecoramic Tiles
financial balances and balanced scorecards, as well as has been gathered about the trends of its environ-
formally recorded qualitative and descriptive data. mental investments since 1995 but its expenses data
All these data are compiled and elaborated from are only available from 1999 onwards because, prior
requirements of the environmental department, and to that, environmental expenses were not distin-
in our case study research, at least, the environmental guished from the total expenses of the organisation.
information system should fulfil the ISO 14001 The Ecoramic Tiles’ trend of environmental
requirements, which include: documentation con- investments over the period 1995–2001 can be
cerning environmental policy, identification of as- observed in Table I, expressed as the ratio between
pects and impacts, assessment of objectives in order environmental investments and total investments per
to attenuate significant impacts, quantification and year:
planning of goals, records for evaluating the From Table I it can be observed that in 1995 the
achievement of goals, auditing and training plans. Ecoramic Tiles’ environmental investments were
But in an initial stage of development, such as the about 18% of total investments and in 1997 and 1998
one Ecoramic Tiles is going through at present, the they reached 37% and 25% respectively. Later the
404 Maria J. Masanet-Llodra

TABLE I
Ecoramic Tiles’ Environmental Investments over the Period 1995–2001

Environmental investments (E I) 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001

(E I/Total investments) (%) 18.05 0.00 37.37 25.08 8.00 4.90 1.98

percentages are less significant due to the fact that, The implementation of an environmental man-
once technological changes have been made in order agement system can be introduced to avoid harsher
to carry out the technological rationalization, the environmental regulations and to adopt continuous
financial payments decrease until a new technology improvement strategies as an assurance of environ-
is adopted. mental performance. The environmental certifica-
For the Ecoramic Tiles’ environmental expenses tion acts as a guide to formalise the environmental
the trend over the period 1999–2001 is shown in management system and, therefore, the willingness
Table II: to achieve the environmental certification can
This positive trend is mainly caused by the stimulate the adoption of environmental manage-
environmental management system itself, which ment in any organisation. Some kind of environ-
generates different expenses – consultancies, mental management usually exists in firms in a
employees, certification costs, and so on – and the chaotic way and to formalise and provide connec-
management of waste, through waste identification tions to that chaos involve a lot of effort and money.
and accurate treatment. This trend suggests an in- But, when there is a specific objective to be
crease in environmental concern during the initial achieved, such as obtaining the environmental cer-
stages of the development of the environmental tification, it helps to make a swift progression from
management system, which are characterised by a some technical environmental improvements to the
progressive proliferation of environmental expenses. configuration of an integrated environmental man-
The environmental information system has also agement system. Setting goals aids organisations to
developed – for its internal operative usage – Ec- achieve the general objectives in the long term be-
oramic Tiles’ ‘‘Waste Guide’’ which has led to an cause accomplishing goals in the short term works as
important reduction in real costs of waste manage- a reward mechanism.
ment thanks to its efficiency in classifying and later Obtaining the environmental certification implies
processing waste. the establishment of objectives and specific goals as
well as the evaluation of their accomplishment. To
evaluate and control the environmental management
Conclusions system it is necessary to compile information for the
elaboration of records. In this process, to transpose
From the obtained experience in our particular case previous experience in quality management systems
study research and the different validations from contributes to paperwork to be reduced and to
other referenced case study researches we can draw failings and improvements to be detected more easily
the following conclusions: since later the system itself allows to learn from it.
Accounting, as an internal information system, is
considered to be very useful and it is recognised that
TABLE II
the development of physical and financial indicators
Ecoramic Tiles’ Environmental Expenses over to configure a balanced scorecard would improve the
the Period 1999–2001 environmental management system. It is remarkable
that, although other business indicators previously
Environmental expenses 1999 2000 2001
existed in the firm of our case study research, the
(Expressed in euros) 28,832.65 45,846.76 62,735.99 development of environmental indicators has fa-
voured the elaboration of a balanced scorecard that
 Environmental Management Accounting 405

gathers economic and environmental ratios, which is the purpose of encouraging employees in taking part
clear proof of how the introduction of an integrated in its environmental management system, our
environmental management system improves busi- company has established a number of incentives
ness management. However, such firm does not show consisting, basically, in promotions and assignments
any interest in disclosing any environmental infor- of greater environmental responsibilities to various
mation in the Annual Report, as evidence of the members of staff. Moreover, it has developed several
opacity and secrecy that exist within a sector charac- training plans related to environmental awareness,
terised by a permanent technological rationalization. which are a complement to its environmental poli-
Those records would be summarised in a list of cies and strategies based on the transmission of an
environmental indicators to control the continuous environmental culture within the organisation.
improvement of firms, and will therefore be Besides, the establishment of periodical environ-
designed by firms according to their own objectives mental training plans is one of the main require-
and goals. Firms should provide the information that ments of the environmental certification ISO 14001.
allows the level of achievement of its objectives to be Whereas from the firm’s environmental strategy it
controlled and validated. Any firm can create its own derives that the environmental information system
balanced scorecard in which environmental indica- should be integrated at all business levels and it ought
tors are included. to be useful for decision making as decision-useful-
The general strategy of the firm of our case study ness theory states, its initial stage of development
research is based on a permanent rationalization circumscribes it to specific projects, which are almost
process that involves adopting the latest technologies exclusively oriented towards obtaining funds such as
on the market. Thus, it has simultaneously imple- subsidies or grants.
mented both the first and the second stage in the The incongruities in our firm between its envi-
development of its environmental management sys- ronmental position assumed in its environmental
tem. This consists in applying the most obvious and strategy and its environmental behaviour reflected in
sensible improvements, which have low costs, facts, revealed that the company assumed to be
together with investments in the most innovative highly environmental committed while from facts
technologies on the market. From the observation of this commitment was not so high proved. Despite
two main environmental indicators in the firm we most of detected incongruities in our firm could be
obtained that the trend of its environmental invest- related to initial stages of implementation of envi-
ments corroborates the firm’s general strategy and the ronmental management systems in the ceramic tiles
trend of its environmental expenses places our firm in sector where there is a relatively recent concern
an initial stage of environmental management devel- about these issues, the one referring to disclosures
opment, where such expenses progressively increase. cannot be explained in such terms.
Our firm considers that its environmental man- On this matter, this particular firm assumes that
agement system has to provide more competitive environmental disclosures mean a real commitment
advantages than those that can be achieved by simply with its stakeholders or interested parts in the firm’s
improving its own business image. Therefore, it environmental management. Therefore, it pro-
should make the management of the production claimed to be keen to disclose environmental
system more efficient by spreading the environ- information as an essential part of its environmental
mental department’s efficiency throughout the management system. But, the facts revealed that its
whole organisation. An environmental management environmental disclosing procedure is restricted to
system should be integrated in the business man- particular responses to individual demands instead of
agement system in order to be operative and to avoid providing general information, without considering
the generation of an obscure department that ob- environmental disclosure in Annual Reports.
structs the other departmental tasks. Finally, even though our case fulfils the require-
Such efficiency would be based on a relevant ments for being considered as a rigorous case study
information system that allows the different business research we are aware of limitations of such meth-
activities to be coordinated and that relies on the odology. These mainly consist in possible bias in the
commitment of all the firm’s human resources. For findings due to researcher perceptions and values,
406 Maria J. Masanet-Llodra
10
the difficulty in designing case study research and the There are other examples where firms can environ-
self-election of the participating company. Further- mentally influence its suppliers, such as that of Ford and
more, this methodology enables to generalise find- General Motors, which require their suppliers to be in
ings to theory but not to the whole population. possession of an Environmental Management System
certification (Switzer et al., 2000). In addition, Mazzuc-
coni Spa, an Italian foundry, has been under a lot of
pressure from one of its customers, a German company,
Notes
to obtain such certification (Cagno and Trucco, 2000).
11
1 In the case of ‘‘clean technology’’ assets the envi-
Global businesses are conditioned by different
ronmental criteria will weigh heavier in the matter.
countries’ regulations, so they need to adapt their
organisational strategies according to them. Thus,
there is a commission for global businesses in the
Intergovernmental Group of Experts on International References
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