Australia's National Local Government Newspaper Online

What the world needs now &endash; green accountants LG leads the way

A recent report prepared for the Australian Bureau of Statistics has found that Local Government far outstrips its State and Federal cousins in incorporating environmental issues into accounting practices.

Public Sector Advisor for the Society of Certified Practising Accountants (CPA), Rob Paice, said the report revealed glaring differences between the three spheres of government.

It also revealed that Local Government is quickly adopting new environmental accounting practices to help with decision making.

"This is a very positive step for accountants in Local Government and builds on the work currently being done, reviewing and improving financial reporting across all governments," he said.

The report revealed that Local Government spends 40 percent more on the environment than State and Territory Governments combined and 14 times more than the Commonwealth spends under its central environmental program.

The new United Nations approved accounting methods, titled UN System of Integrated Economic and Environmental Accounts (SEEA), are already being used by Councils and include green cash flow and loss statements.

"The 'green' reports will allow governments to benchmark their performance and get consistent and useful information for environmental management," Ron Paice said.

"By incorporating environmental measures the environment becomes a factor in decision making. If the environment is not included, it is ignored. It is as simple as that."

He added that green accounting practices, widely used in Europe and the US, were especially designed for government so that economic and environmental accounting can be integrated.

The CPA will look at further studies to help standardise a format for environmental reporting across Local Government, which shows exactly what to put into financial statements.

For further information contact Ron Paice, telephone 0412 835 534

The following articles are also included in this edition or go BACK to the main page: