Strategic Management Accounting at the Environmentally Responsible Organisation

Although management accounting has evolved significantly over the last decades and is now considered a strategic function in many organisations, it may be facing its biggest challenge of its continuing evolution. Sustainability becoming an issue for stakeholders is causing increasing requirements and opportunities for organisations to improve their environmental and social impact. Thus, it is more important than ever for an organisation’s decision-makers to be given the means to make effective, sustainability-focused resource management decisions through sound strategic management accounting practices and to continually monitor, assess and report on their organisation’s environmental performance, including to clarify for key stakeholders how their organisation’s strategies are having a positive and potentially lasting effect on the environment and on the functioning of the economy. With this in mind, this chapter provides insight into how strategic management accounting techniques could be used to assist in the ongoing development and implementation of an organisation’s environmental strategy. Although its conclusions about what is possible are not exhaustive, the chapter demonstrates the importance of taking a whole of organisation approach when using strategic management accounting to ensure the successful implementation of an environmental strategy. It also demonstrates some of the possible challenges and opportunities for strategic management accounting as it evolves.