5.2 Financial accounting and the accounting profession
5.2 財務會計和會計專業
In 1992, the European Union (EU) released a document entitled
Towards Sustainability as part of its Fifth Action Programme. 1992年，作為其《歐洲第五期環境行動計劃》的壹部分，歐盟發布了壹份題為“走向可持續發展”的文件。
One of the suggestions of the Programme was for the accounting
profession to take a role in implementing costing systems that
internalise many environmental costs which were previously
ignored. 該行動計劃的建議之壹是，會計專業要在實施成本核算體系中發揮作用，從而使很多過去忽略的環境成本內在化。Traditional financial accounting typically ignores social
and environmental costs and benefits because of issues associated
with such things as control. 傳統的財務會計壹般都忽略社會的和環境的成本和效益，因為這些問題與控制之類的事情聯系在壹起。
Specifically, the EU called for a redefinition of accounting concepts, rules, conventions and
methodology so as to ensure that the consumption and use of environmental resources are accounted for as part of the full cost of production and reflected in market prices. 歐盟明確提倡對會計的概念、準則、慣例和方法進行重新定義，從而確保環境資源的消耗和使用占據整個生產成本的壹部分，並反映到市場價格中。78 The rationale for the EU’s proposal was that if prices reflected the full costs of
production, including environmental costs, then such costs would
flow through the various production and consumption cycles and,
as a result of the higher costs, there would be an inclination
towards more sustainable consumption patterns.
歐盟建議的基本原理是，如果價格反映了生產的整個成本，包括環境成本，那麽這樣的成本就會流過各種市場和消費循環，而且由於成本較高，就會向可持續發展的消費模式發生傾斜。