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Implementing Environmental Management Accounting: Status and Challenges pp 143–168Cite as

Using Software Systems to Support Environmental Accounting Instruments

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Part of the book series: Eco-Efficiency in Industry and Science ((ECOE,volume 18))

Abstract

In the past 25 years various information instruments for environmental management have been developed. Some of them focus on the production process and hence can be called “process oriented”. The most important process-oriented instruments are corporate input-output balance, Environmental Performance Indicators and methods of flow cost accounting. They are described and compared in this paper. Benefits for the use of the different instruments are shown. For a continuous use of Environmental Accounting Instruments in day-to-day environmental management, these instruments need to be supported with modern information technologies. This paper shows IT strategies on how to integrate Environmental Accounting functionalities into a Business Information System, which are discussed and partly supported by results from two surveys. The benefit of a structured approach to develop and integrate Environmental Accounting functionalities into a Business Information System is shown. A process model for the IT implementation of Environmental Accounting instruments taking into account the integration into existing business software is presented based on the prototype model. The nine phases of the model are described and discussed. A case study at the glass manufacturing company SCHOTT Glas shows how Environmental Performance Indicator Systems can be implemented in SAP R/3 and in ERP Systems in general. The findings presented here are results from the research project INTUS1.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Technology Management and Human Factors (IAT), University of Stuttgart and Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering (IAO), Germany

    Claus Lang & Daniel Heubach

  2. Institut für ökologische Wirtschaftsforschung (Ecological Economy Research Institute) (IÖW), Germany

    Thomas Loew

Authors
  1. Claus Lang
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  2. Daniel Heubach
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  3. Thomas Loew
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. The Aarhus School of Business, Aarhus, Denmark

    Pall M. Rikhardsson

  2. University of Gloucestershire Business School, Cheltenham, UK

    Martin Bennett

  3. Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    Jan Jaap Bouma

  4. Centre for Sustainability Management (CSM), University of Lüneburg, Germany

    Stefan Schaltegger

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© 2005 Springer

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Lang, C., Heubach, D., Loew, T. (2005). Using Software Systems to Support Environmental Accounting Instruments. In: Rikhardsson, P.M., Bennett, M., Bouma, J.J., Schaltegger, S. (eds) Implementing Environmental Management Accounting: Status and Challenges. Eco-Efficiency in Industry and Science, vol 18. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-3373-7_8

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