There are several ways in which accountants and financial staff can adapt their existing skills and

usual job responsibilities to help businesses deal with environmental issues.

Accountants have a direct interest in controlling and reducing business costs and increasing profits.
They have the necessary skills and experience to:

● monitor, measure and control costs

● manage information systems so that the outputs are accurate and reliable
● identify and plan financial budgets for improvement projects
● help formulate and implement strategy
● provide highly regarded advice

Environmental management accounting offers an opportunity for accountants to develop the

services they offer beyond the traditional core activities. Two accounting skills are particularly
relevant:

● costing - it is essential that the environmental costs of products and services are understood
and allocated properly so that they can be managed and prices set at an appropriate level
● investment appraisal of projects - accountants have an important role to play in ensuring that
all relevant environmental costs are considered in project proposals