Environmental Costs from the Perspective of Environmental Accounting

Short life of man strikingly contrasts with the permanence of the earth. For thousands of years, many generations were born and disappeared, but the earth he has consistently demonstrated impressive ability to support life. There is also a reverse of the medal. It is estimated that human activities cause a disturbance of the natural cycles of the earth. The article presents the need to manage environmental issues of economic entities by analyzing concepts such as environment, environmental accounting and environmental costs in terms of environmental accounting. Currently, entities are beginning to consider the environmental variable in the decision-making process by introducing measures to prevent environmental impact of their activities or to correct damage. Thus, the entities supporting the cost resulting from the interaction with the environment, which is called environmental cost. The conclusion is that the determination of the environmental cost that society incurs difficulties, namely: it is difficult to quantify, in physical units, amount of environmental resources consumed and there is no basis in the market for these goods, because the cost seeks monetary quantification resources consumed through price or cash equivalents. Environmental costs can be reduced or avoided through pollution prevention practices such as redesigning products, input materials substitution, practices and improve operational level of maintenance.