Environmental Management Accounting Practices: The Use, Motivations and Barriers for Large Manufacturing Firms in Lower Northern Provinces Group I, Thailand

This work studies environmental management accounting practice (EMAP) that enterprises apply to ensure the prevention of environmental damage caused by their daily operational activities, including motivations and barriers to adoption. A descriptive study was performed in 10 large manufacturing enterprises in the lower northern provinces group I Thailand via semi-structured interviews and in-depth qualitative interviews with manager/ owner. The result shows that half of the enterprises have implemented EMAP as a requirement for qualifying for ISO 14001 certification. The rest only prepare internal reports for planning, controlling and making operational decisions related to environmental information. The result also indicates that strict legislation, integrating environment into corporate strategy, and sufficient resources play a vital role in EMAP adoption. In addition, this study indicates that the key barriers limiting the implementation of EMAP are lack of resources, knowledge/ expertise/ guidance, and internal difficulties, respectively. This study gives contributions to the government, managers and relevant authorities by providing useful information on the motivations and barriers influencing EMAP adoption, which can help them to establish policy in the field of environmental management. Furthermore, it suggests that managers value EMAP for internal management not only for improvement of environmental performance but also increasing the role of accounting in business.