ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION PROVISION BY COMPANIES OF THE BRAZILIAN STATE OF RIO GRANDE DO SUL

Abstract

This article discusses aspects inherent in the environmental accounting and other ones related to this topic and its exploration by Brazilian companies. As the necessity for including the environmental information into the accounting demonstrations has emerged, the integration of these areas becomes a critical factor in organizations. Therefore, this study initiates with a conceptual review of the aspects inherent in the environmental management within the organizational context, associating such concepts with the environmental accounting in the national and international contexts. Subsequently, it reports an exploratory research done in thirty-one companies, in the Rio Grande do Sul State, holders of the ISO 14001 certification, according to data provided by the National Institute of Metrology, Standardization and Industrial Quality, INMETRO. In this investigation, the accounting demonstrations of 2004, published in the Rio Grande do Sul State newspapers and on the Internet sites of the analyzed companies, were examined to evidence whether they disseminate the environmental aspects. The results have shown absence of such the provision in the accounting demonstrations of the companies belonging to the researched sample. In conclusion, the importance of the topic has been confirmed, because of its thematic relevance, the existence of legislation that determines the registration of the environmental activities in the accounting demonstrations, as well as the results obtained in the sudy. Keywords: Provision. Environmental information. ISO 14001 Certification.