Environmental accounting in developing countries

Abstract

Lebanon has strong environmental laws with enforcement policies, but their implementation was rare due to the political instability and conflict in Lebanon that caused social and economical instability and reduced the law enforcement power of the government resulting in discretionary application of environmental management systems. The paper reports the extent of application of environmental management systems by Lebanese companies, the type of environmental costs reported, and the use of environmental accounting systems by the companies observed in this study. Suggestions and recommendations to improve the adoption of environmental accounting and reporting by companies are given by the researchers.