ENVIRONMENTAL ACCOUNTING AS A NEW PARADIGM A CONTABILIDADE AMBIENTAL COMO UM NOVO PARADIGMA

A growing social concern over environmental questions should not ignore economic development. Economic development and environmental quality are not opposing factors and one has to make them compatible. A great responsibility for this has to be attributed to companies. Sustainable development has to be promoted, guaranteeing that resources exploration, investments good management, the technological orientation and institutional change form a well-articulated unity, consistent with present needs and future challenges. Application of environmental policies that enhance a set of plans of action of the companies, regarding the environment, has revealed advantages for the ‘green’ companies. Accounting has the role of divulging information on costs and economic and strategic benefits of the adoption of environmental policies. As a consequence of the Financial Accounting limitations, it is the Environmental Accounting that has the responsibility of dealing with all the phenomena resulting from the company’s environmental influence. What are the accounting norms that govern the environmental matters in Portugal? What are the difficulties in measuring environmental phenomena? These are some of the questions that trouble and interest scholars of the Environmental Accounting as a new paradigm of the new times. Keywords: Environmental policies. Environmental accounting. Accounting norms. é um imperativo crescente a preocupa o social por quest es ambientais a que n o deve ser alheio o desenvolvimento económico. Desenvolvimento económico e qualidade ambiental n o s o factores antagónicos e há que os compatibilizar. E é às empresas que cabe uma importante parcela dessa responsabilidade. Há que promover o desenvolvimento sustentável, garantindo que a explora o dos recursos, a boa gest o dos investimentos, a orienta o tecnológica e a mudan a institucional formem um todo articulado e consistente com as necessidades presentes e os desafios futuros. A aplica o de políticas ambientais que preconizam um conjunto de planos de ac o das empresas em matéria de ambiente tem revelado vantagens para as empresas “verdes”. é à Contabilidade que compete a divulga o de informa o sobre os custos e os benefícios económicos e estratégicos da adop o de políticas ambientais. Perante as limita es da Contabilidade Financeira é à Contabilidade Ambiental que compete tratar todos os fenómenos que resultam da influência ambiental da empresa. Quais as normas de Contabilidade que regem as matérias ambientais em Portugal? Quais as dificuldades na mensura o dos fenómenos ambientais? Estas s