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Abstract
The environmental accounting literature covers both public and private, or corporate, fields.
The needs of private firms differ from public organisations in that environmental accounting
systems must pay for themselves. Stakeholder analysis and the so-called triple bottom line
forget that shareholders (and regulators) must be satisfied. However, unsatisfied stakeholders
can impact on the firm’s financial prospects and on shareholder value. This leads to strategic
accounting, which endogenises future environmental costs, and relates to corporate goodwill
and social capital. Rethinking private environmental accounting shows how it can lead to
more efficient corporate governance, and what role government can play.