PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
Project phases 1. Setting up cost accounting structure Starting the project a general and standardised system for the accounting of environmental costs will be developed based on previous experiance. Output of the first phase are one standardised and three individually applied environmental cost accounting structures. 2. Data collection So the aspect of training is one of the major issues at this step. As a result the data for the first step of environmental cost accounting will be available according to the structure which was agreed in step one. 3. Raw estimation of potentials The first data collection's result will be evaluated and an analysis will take place on several topics: Degree of detailedness Sensitivity in respect of classical financial controlling aspects Analysis of expenses for permanent data maintenance First cost-benefit-estimates Raw estimation of the discovered economic potential The analysis will generate an action plan for the fourth phase and guarantee an efficient execution of the whole project. 4. Detailed data collection and integration of software Specific persons in the production areas will be contacted and integrated in the data collection and maintenance procedures. Again a great part will be reserved for the training on consciousness and mass flow topics. As a deliverable of the fourth phase in each of the three production enterprises a new cost accounting system regarding environmental costs can be seen, if possible fully integrated in the existing cost accounting software. 5. Project report and diffusion of results Finally the results will be reported and shall be published in a handbook by the ¿Austrian Federal Ministry for Environment, Youth and Family Affairs". This means a broad diffusion within Austria. Furthermore additional communication platforms will be employed: the report could be available via the participants' (and other) websites, there will be lectures about the project.The proposed project will close the gap between environmental and other business relevant planning aspects interms of integration of environmental affairs into the general planning processes in enterprises. The present consortium of project partners is most appropriate for this task: Krems Chemie (chemical production) Funder Industrie GmbH (wood processing) Oberösterreischische Tierkörperverwertungsges.m.b.H. (rendering) DENKSTATT Umweltberatung und -management GmbH (environmental consulting) LMSU GmbH (software consulting). Within 15 months of project schedule environmental cost accounting systems shall be integrated in all production sites and the obtained environmental cost information will be a fully integrated part in each company's decision process. Aim One of the prime aims of the underlying project is the correct calculation and subsequent transparency of environmental cost. Only with this tool will management be able to assess the real potential of environmental investments. The proposed project will demonstrate the potential that environmental costs bear for enterprises and the effects of environmental cost accounting (in the described sense) on management decisions in practice. This will directly lead to enhanced investment in environmentally favourable projects due to (purely) economic reasons. Thus a new tool will be generated leading enterprises to environmental soundness. Objectives To determine the companies' total environmental costs To prepare financial decisions by creating transparency in the field of environmental costs To improve economic attractiveness of industrial environmental projects by distinct allocation of environmental costs and thus improved controlling possibilities