Bridging the environmental accounting gap between the accounting and economics disciplines

This paper discusses how to find the 'real' return for a tourism site by constructing accounting statements that take into account financial and environmental expenses, assets and liabilities. The concept of environmental accounting (EA) allows businesses and nations to report financial/economic and environmental activity in the same framework. This paper proposes an EA reporting tool which comprises an income statement, balance sheet and physical unit statement (incorporating environmental assets and liabilities in financial terms) referred to as 'environmentally sustainable accounting statements' (ESAS). To produce the ESAS, techniques from environmental economics and national accounting are integrated into regular financial accounts using methodologies that align with standard accounting principles as far as possible.