This document summarizes a study that examines the influences on how Chinese accountants formulate environmental accounting practices, with a focus on philosophical influences from Taoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism. The study uses interviews from accountants in Shenyang and Shanghai to understand how they measure environmental costs and impacts. While some accountants expressed personal philosophies related to environmental protection, most saw government regulation, markets, and scandals as the main influences on their environmental accounting work rather than Chinese philosophy.

1. John Margerison, De Montfort University,
Leicester, UK jmargerison@dmu.ac.uk

2.  It seeks to explain for the first time the ways in
which Chinese accountants formulate
environmental accounting
responses/practices/mechanisms and the
influences over their work (in particular
philosophical influences).

3.  Research on influences on the development of
environmental accounting has mainly taken a
Western perspective and focused on
environmental impacts or broader social
accounting in countries such as USA, UK,
Germany, Portugal, Australia and New Zealand
(see (Adams 2002) as an example). The key
influences identified link to legitimacy and
institutional theory and include regulatory
pressures (Deegan 2002; Holland and Foo 2003;
Cho and Patten 2007).

4.  Existing research and scholarship suggest that the
central strands of Chinese philosophy (Taoism,
Buddhism and Confucianism) have strong links to
ecology in their ideas (Berthrong 2003; Miller
2003; Sponsel and Natadecha-Sponsel 2003).
Many researchers and commentators suggest that
these philosophies are very influential in Chinese
life today (see Bell 2008).

5.  A case study methodology has been employed
with accountants from eight different organisations
in two industrial cities - Shenyang and Shanghai –
being interviewed using a semi-structured
interview schedule.

6.  accounting to the government – in China represented by the
Provincial or State Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA)
 information on costs involved with waste water treatment
 measurement of pollution related costs of new factories in
business planning
 identification of costs of equipment recycling
 estimates of remediation costs associated with incineration
plants with associated liabilities
 accounting and reporting on bottle recycling projects
 measurement of energy reduction initiatives and the reporting
thereon
 detailed data generated on energy usage and pollutants.

7.  “respect, responsibility, reduce and recycle”.
 “outside, inside, whole society, sustainable
development of China”;
 “seeking to maximise social benefit from our
activities”

8.  “a strong desire to keep the earth beautiful”
 “if you want to do things – do good deeds”
 “the environment is important to everybody and needs
protecting”
 “human beings should live harmoniously with Nature”
 “Nature will punish mankind if yin and yang are not
kept in harmony”
 “we must preserve the environment for our children”
 “Nature must be respected”
 “I would stress the harmony between humans and
Nature from ancient times”

9.  Only three of the interviewees identified
themselves as champions of environmental
accounting in their organisations.
 Of these there seemed to be a separation of
personal philosophy from that of the organisation
and no acknowledged link between personal
philosophy and environmental accounting
activities.

10.  Government
 Sector scandals
 Markets
 Western parent companies’ values

11. John Margerison
De Montfort University
jmargerison@dmu.ac.uk
 Thank you for your attention
 Any questions