ACCOUNTING PLANNING AND GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSION RIGHTS

Abstract

In January 2005, the European Union established a greenhouse gas emission trading plan. In Spain, several doubts about the accountant effects of this plan have arisen. All installations emitting greenhouse gases must be in possession of an appropriate permit issued by competent authorities. A government (or government agency) issues rights (allowances) to participating entities for them to emit a specified level of emissions. Participants in the scheme are able to buy and sell allowances in the CO2 stock exchange market. At the end of a specified period, participants are required to deliver allowances equal to their actual emissions. The accounting to be adopted by participants and its effect on earnings due to the new Spanish regulation (ICAC Resolution) is the study objective of this paper. For firms ruled by IFR’s the only reference was IFRIC 3 which, however, was withdrawn in June 2005 due to the EFRAG recommendation. The Spanish Accounting Plan and the ICAC Resolutions remain the legal frameworks for the rest of the firms. We demonstrate how in the new Spanish legal context it will be possible to differ or anticipate incomes, making for a very useful tool for accounting planning. Keywords: Allowances. Accounting planning. Provisions. IFRs. Earnings.