Environmental financial accounting - an interdisciplinary review

One of the main tasks for the science of accounting was from the beginning finding proper ways for identifying, assessing and describing the economic activity costs. As the regulations and economic activity approach changed over time the cost structure also modified and diversified. The experience shown that the lack of knowledge in evaluating the real cost and especially the correct structure of it caused efficiency and performance loses. In the same manner how the labor regulations and unions occurrence increased the salary costs, in the second half of the 20th century, the environmental movement and activism brought a new cost category to assess and model. The heavy publicized environmental events related to oil spilling or heavy air pollution increased the expenditures for high profile enterprises and affected not only their present financial status but also their image and such their future market opportunities and performance.