Green Accounting: A Model for Environmental Disclosure

Those companies and industries which their activities have a large-scale environmental, social, and economic effects are encountered with serious challenges in the field of information disclosure for their own environmental activities. The aim of this research is to identify the influential variables on the environmental disclosure, and also to present a model for its disclosure. This research is applied in terms of purpose, and based on the method of collecting data is a descriptive survey of the content analysis type. The statistical population of the research contain all the experts and specialists in the field of green accounting and environmental accounting. The statistical sample of the research consists of 29 experts (environmental experts and the experienced members of Iranian Association of Certified Public Accountants in this regard). In order to collect and analyze the opinions and comments of the experts, Fuzzy Delphi method, Paired Comparison Matrix technique, and Expert Choice Software Version 11 have been used. The main influential variables on the environmental disclosure which have been identified in this research are preventive practices, compensatory practices, and managerial practices. Preventive practices include prevention of air pollution, protective practices of environment, and energy consumption patterns; compensatory practices contain loss compensatory practices and reducing compensatory practices; and managerial practices consist of participatory practices in social activities, acquiring certifications and honors, research and development. The influential variables on the environmental disclosure have the capacity to be disclosed in the financial statements and/or in the notes along with the financial statements according to their level of importance and in relation to their being qualitative and quantitative. Identifying the revenues and the costs of environmental activities and their disclosure will be a more efficient step in moving of organizations towards executing green accounting.