Adoption of environmental management accounting :an investigation of companies in environmentally sensitive industries

Abstract

Mounting awareness among various stakeholders of environmental management issues has motivated companies to place sustainability development on their business agenda. However, the unavailability of a system that can capture environmental concerns has hindered companies from identifying opportunities for improving their environmental performance. The role of accounting as a tool to address environmental problems therefore has become critical. The use of environmental accounting, particularly environmental management accounting (EMA), will allow management to identify ways for more efficient processes and better consumption of resources that may lead both to positive environmental and to economic performance. By utilising survey and semi-structured interviews to gain evidence from the practitioner’s view, this study contributes to outlining the extent of EMA diffusion among environmentally-sensitive industries in Malaysia, the motivation for the uptake of the practice, the effects of the adoption on firm performance and problems/challenges related to its adoption. Diffusion of Innovation (DOI) and Neo-Institutional Sociology (NIS) perspective provides a theoretical background for this empirical study. DOI Theory suggests that technical and organisational factors are relevant for EMA adoption, while NIS stresses the part that environmental or external factors play in such a phenomenon. The correlation test suggests that all technical, organisational and institutional contexts play significant roles in EMA diffusion. Specifically, the perceived relative advantage of EMA, community pressure, regulatory pressure, normative pressure, multi-nationality status, the existence of an internal champion and top management’s support are positively associated with the diffusion stage of EMA. Further logistic regressions tests were conducted to look at how EMA moved from one stage of diffusion to another within firms. While the existence of an internal champion caused firms to consider EMA, internal stakeholders’ pressure and top management’s support were found to be the factors that could move EMA from consideration stage to adoption stage. This paper traces the progress of EMA in Malaysia from as early as 1998. Even though the findings show that the pace of EMA diffusion is slow, the number of adopters is growing, thus implying the potential of EMA to be adopted in a wider context in future; forced selection may justify the faster pace of adoption. Problems related to lack of knowledge and inadequate expertise among accountants are found to be barriers for the practice to be widely diffused. This suggests that pressure for EMA adoption may stem from normative isomorphism. Furthermore, the case for introducing EMA is always put on cost-benefit ground, which accountants consider as difficult to be justified. As accountants place greater consideration on these impediments, interest in EMA wanes. This indicates the need for professional bodies and universities to integrate EMA into their coursework and training.