Economy & Business, Volume 13, 2019

Abstract: Over the past 20 years, pollution issues have become more and more important, and hence the need to take action to limit its harmful effects. An increasing number of businesses submit non-financial information about their activity in their financial reports which therefore requires that this kind of information be checked to ascertain its authenticity. The aim of the current paper is to summarize some basic issues of environmental accounting and to outline the challenges for financial managers ahead of it. The choice of the topic is justified by the increasing relevance of environmental accounting and reporting of non-financial information, as well as the placement of environmental protection and the transition to circular economy within the priorities of the European Union. Under the current circumstances, environmental accounting and disclosure of non-financial information should henceforth be seen as an integral part of modern accounting and reporting, not as side and non-mandatory activities. For this purpose, a review of international trends and policies in these areas will be presented, mainly covering UN and EU documents as well as some international standards for reporting non-financial information.