Environmental accounting and reporting: an evaluation of ONGC

The rapid growing population and economic development is leading to a number of environmental issues like uncontrolled growth of urbanization, globalization and industrialization, expansion and massive intensification of agriculture, and the devastation of forests in India. In the present world scenario, environmental pollution has become acute and the stakeholders’ awareness to the issue serious that environmental accounting has become an essential branch of accounting. Environmental accounting refers to identification, measurement and disclosure of environmental costs, liabilities and contingencies in the financial records of a company for the benefit of various internal and external stakeholders. Environmental accounting basically deals with recognizing and disclosing a company's environmental costs and liabilities in financial reports. While consistently emphasizing on the economic and industrial development, we have taken the environment for granted. The result of such leniency towards environment has resulted into several remarkable incidences in the past including the Bhopal chemical leak (1984), Tsunami in India (2004). The issue of environmental responsibility and the sustainable industrial development has given to the birth of new branch of accounting, i.e. Environmental Accounting and reporting. In this paper, the theoretical foundation of environmental accounting and reporting is discussed with special reference to ONGC. The Environmental Policy shows that they are giving fully efforts for the better protection of environment but on the other hand the research findings doesn't shows the ecological cost, liability, and ecological expenditure.