Corporate social environmental responsibility accounting (CSERA) - A management accounting perspective / Hari Ramulu Munusamy

CSRA is a current growing global trend that gives a corporate body an edge, over the competition in transparency and productivity. In tandem with global CSRA, the Chairman of the Kuala Lumpur Environmental Committee (June 2003) called on Malaysian firms to voluntarily provide annual reports on the impact their economic activities have on the environment before the law forces them to do so. He warned that if public and private firms did not do this, they risked losing business deals with their foreign trading partners. Currently, only 10% (as at 23 June 2003) listed on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (KLSE) provided environmental reports. The Science, Technology and Environmental Ministry's recent call, through the Malaysian Agenda for Waste Reduction (MAWAR) program, to improve the local environmental accounting system, is based on the realization that such reports. are fast becoming an established corporate practice worldwide. As such, the Environmental Reporting Guidelines, for Malaysian Companies were produced by ACCA in collaboration with the Department of Environment at the Ministry of Science, Technology and the Environment. As at July 2004 the percentage of companies listed on the KLSE reporting on CSRA has not risen significantly. Shane Johnson (2004) concludes that most companies do not report on CSERA because they do not know about the extent of their environmental costs and tend to underestimate them.