A PROPOSAL TO ENHANCE THE CREDIBILITY OF SUPREME MONITORING AUTHORITIES OF ORGANIZATIONS ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE | ||
| Journal of Environmental Science | ||
| Article 11, Volume 45, Issue 2, March 2019, Pages 303-339 PDF (622.63 K) | ||
| Document Type: Review Article | ||
| DOI: 10.21608/jes.2019.56789 | ||
| Authors | ||
| Ahmed M. Z. A. El Khawas1; Mohamed A. Khalifa2; Salah H. Salam2 | ||
| 1Institute of Environmental Studies and Research, Ain Shams University | ||
| 2Faculty of Commerce, Ain Shams University | ||
| Abstract | ||
| The application of the concepts of sustainable development, environmental impact assessment and environmental management system has had a significant impact on the increased demand for data and information resulting from the application of environmental accounting systems. This requires the review of such systems and the issuance of reports which provide users of financial statements with information to help them make informed rationale environmental decisions and to assist in terms of the controlling, planning and monitoring environmental activities. Environmental review reports reveal the level of compliance of organizations with environmental policies and laws, protecting the environment from pollution and hazards, and avoidance of overuse of natural resources to achieve sustainable development and gain competitive advantages in addition to gaining competitive advantages, tax exemptions and avoiding penalties for non-compliance with environmental laws. The study illustrates that the enhanced credibility of reports support how Central Auditing Organization (CAO) seeks to play a vital and evolving role in promoting effective environmental governance with an objective to regulate public and private behavior towards more accountability and responsibility for preserving the environment. All environmental audit results help the government achieve its environmental objectives towards sustainable development. CAO plays has an important role to play in ensuring that our governments are accountable, responsible and responsive to ensure that environmental sustainability issues are at the heart of targeted development initiatives to be achieved. In order to achieve the objective of the study and to test its hypotheses, the researcher adopted the analytical descriptive methodology and field studies to collect the necessary information and required data in order to complete the study. The study sample consisted of Exploratory Sample: This exploratory survey was performed on a sample, which consists of 40 individuals to answer 40 questionnaires, which were all submitted upon completion, in order to verify the validity and consistency of the questionnaire. And Actual Sample: After verifying the accuracy and consistency of the measurement instrument, the questionnaire was distributed to the sample comprising of 200 forms, whereas the retrieved ones were 178 forms, 18 of which are not valid for statistical analysis. Hence, the actual sample consists of 160 forms. The study tool was designed based on initial identification of the of the measure phrases used in accordance with the study topic, its objectives and questions, after detailed readings, literature review and consideration of previous studies related to the problem of study and the researcher’s experience. The study tool consists of: Part 1: includes personal data. Part 2: includes special phrases for environmental performance disclosure which includes 40 phrases divided into five dimensions. Part 3: includes the statements related to the credibility of the reports which includes 26 phrases divided into two dimensions. For validation purposes, we can measure the psychometric characteristics of this tool which are represented in honesty and consistency. The study objective can be achieved by proposing a model to enhance the credibility of the reports of the CAO on environmental performance of organizations in order to achieve a set of secondary objectives, e.g. development of standards, baselines, guidelines for developing environmental audit reports, ensuring the adequacy of environmental management systems in the organization and their actual compliance with environmental laws and legislative and safety requirements to reduce the exposure to environmental hazards in addition to the assessment of effectiveness of existing environmental management systems, provide consultation to the administration with regards to possible improvements of such systems in order to achieve environmental enhancement, ensure the accuracy and validity of financial statements related to environmental performance of the organization which is recorded in the accounting and non-accounting records and registers and any other reports related to environmental performance, ensure the validity of presented data and disclosure of any liabilities or possible losses resulting from environmental issues in the financial statements and annexes thereto for the audited organization. This research also sheds some light on environmental accounting, issues of environmental accounting measurement and submitting proposals thereto, in addition to the methodology to achieve a documented environmental audit process to identify subjective evidence, which match environmental measures to provide and disclose appropriate information and data, which have an impact on financial statements and related reports to enhance their credibility. By analyzing the model of enhancing credibility, all variables lead to increased credibility in the reports issued by the Authority. In addition to the findings identified by the researcher in evaluating previous studies including the commitment to support and integrate environmental auditing in the work of senior auditing authorities, the study recommends the following: Identify the methodology, which CAO should use when auditing government actions in the field of the environment, restructuring CAO and developing the environmental audit sector, participation and coordination between CAO in terms of verifying aspects of sustainable development, focusing CAO strategy on environmental auditing as a strategic priority, and activate the role of CAO in reviewing international environmental agreements. | ||
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