成本会计 外文翻译 外文文献 英文文献 中小企业环境成本会计的实施

成本会计外文翻译外文文献英文文献中小企业环境成

本会计的实施

IMPLEMENTING ENVIRONMENTAL COST

ACCOUNTING IN SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED

COMPANIES

1(ENVIRONMENTAL COST ACCOUNTING IN SMES

Since its inception some 30 years ago, Environmental Cost Accounting (ECA) has reached a stage of development where individual ECA systems

are separated from the core accounting system based an assessment of environmental costs with (see Fichter et al., 1997, Letmathe and Wagner , 2002).

As environmental costs are commonly assessed as overhead costs, neither the older concepts of full costs accounting nor the relatively recent one of direct costing appear to represent an appropriate basis

for the implementation of ECA. Similar to developments in conventional accounting, the theoretical and conceptual sphere of ECA has focused on process-based accounting since the 1990s (see Hallay and Pfriem, 1992, Fischer and Blasius, 1995, BMU/UBA, 1996, Heller et al., 1995, Letmathe, 1998, Spengler and H.hre, 1998).

Taking available concepts of ECA into consideration, process-based concepts seem the best option regarding the establishment of ECA (see Heupel and Wendisch , 2002). These concepts, however, have to be

continuously revised to ensure that they work well when applied in small and medium-sized companies.

Based on the framework for Environmental Management Accounting presented in Burritt et al. (2002), our concept of ECA focuses on two main groups of environmentally related impacts. These are

environmentally induced financial effects and company-related effects on environmental systems (see Burritt and Schaltegger, 2000, p.58). Each of these impacts relate to specific categories of financial and environmental information. The environmentally induced financial effects are represented by monetary environmental information and the effects on environmental systems are represented by physical environmental information. Conventional accounting deals with both – monetary as well as physical units – but does not

focus on environmental impact as such. To arrive at a practical solution to the implementation of ECA in a company’s existing

accounting system, and to comply with the problem of

distinguishing between monetary and physical aspects, an integrated concept is required. As physical information is often the basis for the monetary information (e.g. kilograms of a raw material are the basis for the monetary valuation of raw material consumption), the integration

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of this information into the accounting system database is essential. From there, the generation of physical environmental and monetary (environmental) information would in many cases be feasible. For many

companies, the priority would be monetary (environmental) information

for use in for instance decisions regarding resource consumptions and investments. The use of ECA in small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) is still relatively rare, so practical examples available in the literature are few and far between. One problem is that the definitions of SMEs vary between countries (see Kosmider, 1993 and Reinemann, 1999). In our work the criteria shown in Table 1 are used to describe small and medium-sized enterprises.

Table 1. Criteria of small and medium-sized enterprises

Number of employees Turnover

Up to 500 employees Turnover up to EUR 50m

Management Organization

- Owner-cum-entrepreneur -Divisional organization is rare

- Varies from a patriarchal management -Short flow of information style

in traditional companies and teamwork -Strong personal commitment in start-up companies -Instruction and controlling with

- Top-down planning in old companies direct personal contact

- Delegation is rare

- Low level of formality

- High flexibility

Finance Personnel

- family company -easy to survey number of employees

- limited possibilities of financing -wide expertise

-high satisfaction of employees

Supply chain Innovation

-closely involved in local -high potential of innovation

economic cycles in special fields

- intense relationship with customers

and suppliers

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Keeping these characteristics in mind, the chosen ECA approach

should be easy to apply, should facilitate the handling of complex structures and at the same time be suited to the special needs of SMEs.

Despite their size SMEs are increasingly implementing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems like SAP R/3, Oracle and Peoplesoft. ERP systems support business processes across organizational, temporal and geographical boundaries using one integrated database. The primary use of ERP systems is for planning and controlling production and administration processes of an enterprise. In SMEs however, they are often individually designed and thus not standardized making the integration of for instance software that supports ECA implementation problematic. Examples could be tools like the “eco-ef ficiency” approach of

IMU (2003) or Umberto (2003) because these solutions work with the database of more comprehensive software solutions like SAP, Oracle, Navision or others. Umberto software for example (see Umberto, 2003)

would require large investments and great background knowledge of ECA –which is not available in most SMEs.

The ECA approach suggested in this chapter is based on an

integrative solution –

meaning that an individually developed database is used, and the ECA solution adopted draws on the existing cost accounting procedures in the company. In contrast to other ECA approaches, the aim was to create an accounting system that enables the companies to individually obtain the relevant cost information. The aim of the research was thus to find out what cost information is relevant for the company’s decision on environmental issues and

how to obtain it.

2(METHOD FOR IMPLEMENTING ECA

Setting up an ECA system requires a systematic procedure. The

project thus developed a method for implementing ECA in the companies

that participated in the project; this is shown in Figure 1. During the implementation of the project it proved convenient to form a core team assigned with corresponding tasks drawing on employees in various departments. Such a team should consist of one or two persons from the production department as well as two from accounting and corporate environmental issues, if available. Depending on the stage of the

project and kind of inquiry being considered, additional corporate members may be added to the project team to respond to issues such as IT, logistics, warehousing etc.

Phase 1: Production Process Visualization

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At the beginning, the project team must be briefed thoroughly on the current corporate situation and on the accounting situation. To this end, the existing corporate accounting structure and the related corporate information transfer should be analyzed thoroughly. Following the

concept of an input/output analysis, how materials find their ways into and out of the company is assessed. The next step is to present the flow of material and goods discovered and assessed in a flow model. To ensure the completeness and integrity of such a systematic analysis, any input and output is to be taken into consideration. Only a detailed analysis

of material and energy flows from the point they enter the company until they leave it as products, waste, waste water or emissions enables the company to detect cost-saving potentials that at later stages of the project may involve more efficient material use, advanced process reliability and overview, improved capacity loads, reduced waste

disposal costs, better transparency of costs and more reliable assessment of legal issues. As a first approach, simplified corporate flow models, standardized stand-alone models for supplier(s), warehouse and isolated production segments were established and only combined

after completion. With such standard elements and prototypes defined, a company can readily develop an integrated flow model with production process(es), production lines or a production process as a whole. From the view of later adoption of the existing corporate accounting to ECA,

such visualization helps detect, determine, assess and then separate primary from secondary processes.

Phase 2: Modification of Accounting

In addition to the visualization of material and energy flows, modeling principal and peripheral corporate processes helps prevent problems involving too high shares of overhead costs on the net product result. The flow model allows processes to be determined directly or at least partially identified as cost drivers. This allows identifying and separating repetitive processing activity with comparably few options from those with more likely ones for potential improvement.

By focusing on principal issues of corporate cost priorities and on those costs that have been assessed and assigned to their causes least appropriately so far, corporate procedures such as preparing bids, setting up production machinery, ordering (raw) material and related process parameters such as order positions, setting up cycles of machinery, and order items can be defined accurately. Putting several partial processes with their isolated costs into

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context allows principal processes to emerge; these form the basis

of process-oriented accounting. Ultimately, the cost drivers of the processes assessed are the actual reference points for assigning and accounting overhead costs. The percentage surcharges on costs such as labor costs are replaced by process parameters measuring efficiency (see Foster and Gupta, 1990).

Some corporate processes such as management, controlling and personnel remain inadequately assessed with cost drivers assigned to product-related cost accounting. Therefore, costs of the processes mentioned, irrelevant to the measure of production activity, have to be assessed and surcharged with a conventional percentage.

At manufacturing companies participating in the project, computer-integrated manufacturing systems allow a more flexible and scope-oriented production (eco-monies of scope), whereas before only homogenous quantities (of products) could be produced under reasonable economic conditions (economies of scale). ECA inevitably prevents

effects of allocation, complexity and digression and becomes a valuable controlling instrument where classical/conventional accounting arrangements systematically fail to facilitate proper decisions.

Thus, individually adopted process-based accounting produces potentially valuable information for any kind of decision about internal processing or external sourcing (e.g. make-or-buy decisions).

Phase 3: Harmonization of Corporate Data – Compiling and

Acquisition

On the way to a transparent and systematic information system, it is convenient to check core corporate information systems of procurement and logistics, production planning, and waste disposal with reference to their capability to provide the necessary precise figures for the determined material/energy flow model and for previously identified principal and peripheral processes. During the course of the project, a

few modifications within existing information systems were, in most cases, sufficient to comply with these requirements; otherwise, a completely new software module would have had to be installed without prior analysis to satisfy the data requirements.

Phase 4: Database concepts

Within the concept of a transparent accounting system, process-based accounting can provide comprehensive and systematic information both on corporate material/ energy flows

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and so-called overhead costs. To deliver reliable figures over time, it is essential to integrate a permanent integration of the algorithms discussed above into the corporate information system(s). Such permanent integration and its practical use may be achieved by applying one of three software solutions (see Figure 2).

For small companies with specific production processes, an

integrated concept is best suited, i.e. conventional and

environmental/process-oriented accounting merge together in one common system solution.

For medium-sized companies, with already existing integrated production/ accounting platforms, an interface solution to such a system might be suitable. ECA, then, is set up as an independent software module outside the existing corporate ERP system and needs to be fed data continuously. By using identical conventions for inventory-data

definitions within the ECA software, misinterpretation of data can be avoided.

Phase 5: Training and Coaching

For the permanent use of ECA, continuous training of employees on

all matters discussed remains essential. To achieve a long-term potential of improved efficiency, the users of ECA applications and systems must be able to continuously detect and integrate corporate process modifications and changes in order to integrate them into ECA and, later, to process them properly.

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中小企业环境成本会计的实施

一、中小企业的环境成本会计

自从成立三十年以来，环境成本会计已经发展到一定阶段，环境会计成本体系已经从以环境成本评估为基础的会计制度核心中分离出来(参考Fichter et al., 1997, Letmathe

和 Wagner , 2002)。

由于环境成本经常被评估为一般管理费用，传统观念的完全成本会计或者直接成本都没有为环境成本会计的实施描述一个适当的基础。与传统会计发展类似，自从20世纪90年代以来，环境会计在概念和理论领域的重点放在了基于流程的会计中(参考Hallay和Pfriem，1992年，Fischer 和Blasius，1995年，德国环境部，1996年，Heller等人。1995 ，Letmathe，1998年，Spengler和H.hre，1998年)。

考虑到环境成本会计可行的概念，基于流程的观念似乎是制定环境成本会计的最好选择(参考Heupel 和 Wendisch，2002年)。但是这些概念必须确保能够在中小企业中正常运行。

基于Burritt等人提出的环境管理会计框架，我们对环境成本会计的概念着重于两个有关环境影响的主要群体。这是由环境引起的对环境系统的财务影响和与公司向关联的影响(参考Burritt和Schaltegger，2000年，第58页)。所有这些影响都和特定种类的金融和换环境信息相关。由环境引起的息对财务的影响有基于货币环境信息的影响和基于事物的环境信息影响。传统的会计体系可以处理双方面，包括以货币为单位的何以实物为单位的，但是却不注重环境对产生的影响。要得出一个在公司现行会计制度中实施环境成本会计的切实可行的方法，并能够处理货币和事务方面的混淆问题，需要一个能互相协调的综合的概念。由于实物信息往往是货币信息的基础(例如，1千克原料的消耗是对实物消耗多少货币的计量基础)，这个信息到会计系统数据库的集成是至关重要的。在那里，物理环境信息和货币环境信息的产生在很多情况下是可行的。对于许多公司来说，在确定资源消耗和投资决策信息时，他们会优先使用货币环境信息。环境成本会计在小型和中型的企业中使用还比较少见，因此实际的例子在现有的文献中并不多见。有一个问题就是，中小企业的定义因国家而异(参考Kosmider，1993年和Reinemann，1999年)。我们列于表一中的工作标准是用来描述中小型企业的。

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表一中小型企业的标准

员工人数营业额

大于500个员工营业额大于5千万欧元管理组织

--业主兼企业家 --分权组织很少见

--区分于传统的家族制企业 --短式的信息流通

和刚起步的公司的团队合作 --很强的个人责任

--自上而下的直线型管理 --直接的个人接触

--授权很少

--正式程度较小

--高灵活度

财务全体职员

--家族企业 --容易统计员工的数目 --限制的财务占有权 --全面的专业技能--员工满足感较高

供应链创新

--与当地经济圈联系紧密 --在特定领域有很强创新潜能 --与消费者及供应商关系稳定

牢记这些特征，选择适当的环境成本会计方法应当很容易，掌控公司的复杂结构变得容易，同时也适合中小型企业的特殊需求。

除去企业的规模，中小型企业也在不断增加实施他们的信息管理系统，例如SAP R/3，人事软件。信息管理系统支持跨组织的，并且时间和地域限制使用一个统一的数据库的业务流程。信息管理系统的主要用途是进行规划和控制企业的生产和管理过程。然而在中小企业中，它们常常单独设计，从而与环境成本会计的事实问题的一体化达不到一个标准。类似的案例有，如生态效益的惯性测量法

IMU(2003)者Umberto(2003)这类工具，因为这些解决方案与更多的如SAP，甲骨文，Navision的全面的软件解决方案或其他数据库的工作。例如Umberto软件，需要大量的投资方面的知识以及大背景下的环境成本会计的知识，而这在大多数中小企业中是不可行的。

在这里所建议的环境成本会计的方法基于一个综合的解决方案，这意味着要开发一

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个独立的数据库使用，环境成本会计采用的解决办法借鉴了现有的成本在公司的会计程序。相对于其他环境成本会计的办法，在此的目的是为了创造一个会计系统，使公司能够找出哪些成本信息是与公司的环境决策的议题相关的并且怎样取得这些信息。

二、实施环境成本会计的方法

建立的环境成本会计环境成本会计需要一个系统的程序。

第一阶段:生产过程可视化

在开始的时候，项目团队必须清楚企业当前局势和会计情况。为此，现行的企业会计结构和相关企业的信息传输应进行深入分析。随着观念的输入/输出分析，评估如何找到物料进出该公司的方式。接下来的步骤是目前发现的材料和货物流动，在流动模型中进行评估。为了保证这种完整性和系统的分析完整，任何输入和输出是要加以考虑。只有队物质和能量的流动从它们以物质的形式进入公司到它们以产品，废物，废水或废气的形式离开做详细的分析，才能使公司能够检测成本节约的潜力，在该项目可能涉及的物质更有效的后期阶段利用先进的工艺可靠性，高负载能力，降低废物处理成本，更好的成本和更可靠的法律问题评估。作为第一个办法，简化企业流程模型，对供应商的标准化独立模式、仓库以及独立的生产环节，只有完成后才能建立合并。有了这样的标准内容和原型定义，一个公司可以随时开发与生产，把生产线或生产过程作为一个整体。公司从现有的会计转向环境成本会计，这种可视化可以帮助检测，确定，评估，然后区分首要的和次要的工作程序。

第二阶段:修订会计体系

除去可视化的物质和能量的流动，建模本金和周边企业流程有助于防止出现问题，包括过分摊销产成品的间接费用。该流程模型允许进程将直接决定或至少部

分的成本驱动因素。这使得识别和分离为潜在的改善更可能的重复处理这些方案与活动。

通过重点集中在成本的主要问题，并就这些公司企业的成本进行评估且进行适当的分配，到目前为止，如准备投标程序，建立生产机械，订货(原)材料和相关工艺参数，如订单的立场，设立机器周期，并可以为项目准确地加以界定。把他们的情况与成若干部分分离成本的主要工序流程综合呈现，这些构成了面向过程的会计基础。最终，在评估过程的成本驱动因素是分配和管理费用占实际参考点。诸如劳动力成本的附加费百分比也由工艺参数测量效率取代(参考Foster 和 Gupta，1990年)。

第三阶段:统一企业数据-编译和采集系统论方法

即将运用的透明和系统的信息系统，方便检查公司生产性信息系统的核心，生产计划、企业信息系统的采购和物流，并参照它们的能力，废物处理，以提供必要的材料的

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准确数字/能量流动模型与先前确定的本金和周边进程。在项目的过程中，现有的制度是一些修改资料的个案，在大多数情况，足以符合这些要求，否则，一个完全新的软件模块将不得不将安装，以满足数据的要求。

第四阶段:数据库概念

透明的会计制度的概念范围中，基于过程的会计能够提供全面、系统的重要资料，在

包括公司/能量流动和所谓的间接费用。为了提供可靠的数字，随着时间的推移，它必须纳入到企业的信息系统。

对于综合概念的小公司与特定的生产过程，有一个方案是最适合的，即传统的和环境/过程为导向的会计合并在一起普通的系统解决方案。

对于中型企业，与现有的综合生产/会计平台，一个对口的解决方案这样的系统可能是合适的。环境成本会计作为独立的软件系统，必须独立于管理信息系统之外并且需要持续的数据支持。明显的数据是一致的，评估一个企业的库存数据，所有存储在数据库和应用程序透明地处理功能和数值范围内。结合所有这些数据，控制与环境有关的数字可能成功地付诸实践。

第五阶段:训练和教练

对于长久的实施环境成本会计，对员工的持续的培训是必不可少的。为了长期的提高效率，环境成本会计系统的使用人员必须能够不断发现和整合企业流程的修改和变化，以便他们融入到环境成本会计，直至最终能够与之契合。

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