Awareness and Adoption of Green Accounting Practices: A Study of Firms in Pune
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.66635/p86pbn92Keywords:
Green Accounting, Environmental Accounting, Sustainability Reporting, Corporate Social Responsibility, Sustainable Business PracticesAbstract
This study examines the awareness and adoption of green accounting practices among selected firms in Pune, with specific reference to Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro Limited, and Tech Mahindra. Green accounting has become increasingly important in emerging economies such as India, where rapid industrialization, urbanization, and business growth have intensified environmental concerns. The study adopts a descriptive and analytical research design and is based on secondary data collected from annual reports, sustainability disclosures, corporate websites, government reports, and published sources. Environmental indicators such as energy consumption, water consumption, waste generation, greenhouse gas emissions, and environmental or corporate social responsibility expenditure are used to assess the extent of green accounting adoption. The findings reveal that the selected firms have adopted green accounting-related practices through sustainability reporting, environmental disclosure, resource management, and climate-related commitments. Tata Consultancy Services showed a continuous decline in energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions between 2015 and 2019, indicating improvement in energy efficiency and carbon reduction. Wipro Limited demonstrated improvement in water-use efficiency, although inconsistency in reporting units affected comparability across years. Tech Mahindra reflected strong sustainability orientation through science-based emission reduction targets and carbon neutrality initiatives. The study concludes that green accounting supports environmental accountability, resource efficiency, stakeholder confidence, and sustainable business growth. However, standardized reporting formats, comparable indicators, digital tools, professional training, and policy support are required to strengthen adoption, especially among SMEs and emerging enterprises.
References
1.Adams, C. A. (2017). Conceptualising the contemporary corporate value creation process. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 30(4), 906-931.
2.Bebbington, J., & Unerman, J. (2018). Achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: an enabling role for accounting research. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 31(1), 2-24.
3.Board, F. S. (2017). Task force on climate-related financial disclosures. Final Report: Recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures.
4.Burritt, R. L., Herzig, C., Schaltegger, S., & Viere, T. (2019). Diffusion of environmental management accounting for cleaner production: Evidence from some case studies. Journal of Cleaner Production, 224, 479-491.
5.Burritt, R., & Christ, K. (2016). Industry 4.0 and environmental accounting: a new revolution?. Asian Journal of Sustainability and Social Responsibility, 1(1), 23-38.
6.Dasgupta, P. (2021). The Economics of Biodiversity: The Dasgupta. London: HM Treasury.
7.Dissanayake, D., Tilt, C., & Qian, W. (2019). Factors influencing sustainability reporting by Sri Lankan companies. Pacific Accounting Review, 31(1), 84-109.
8.Farisyi, S., Musadieq, M. A., Utami, H. N., & Damayanti, C. R. (2022). A systematic literature review: Determinants of sustainability reporting in developing countries. Sustainability, 14(16), 10222.
9.Gunarathne, N., & Lee, K. H. (2015). Environmental Management Accounting (EMA) for environmental management and organizational change: An eco-control approach. Journal of Accounting & Organizational Change, 11(3), 362-383.
10.Johnstone, L. (2021). Facilitating sustainability control in SMEs through the implementation of an environmental management system. Journal of Management Control, 32(4), 559-605.
11.Khan, M., Serafeim, G., & Yoon, A. (2016). Corporate sustainability: First evidence on materiality. The accounting review, 91(6), 1697-1724.
12.Latan, H., Jabbour, C. J. C., de Sousa Jabbour, A. B. L., Wamba, S. F., & Shahbaz, M. (2018). Effects of environmental strategy, environmental uncertainty and top management's commitment on corporate environmental performance: The role of environmental management accounting. Journal of cleaner production, 180, 297-306.
13.Lee, H., Calvin, K., Dasgupta, D., Krinner, G., Mukherji, A., Thorne, P., ... & Jotzo, F. (2023). IPCC, 2023: Climate Change 2023: Synthesis Report: A Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
14.Marquis, C., Toffel, M. W., & Zhou, Y. (2016). Scrutiny, norms, and selective disclosure: A global study of greenwashing. Organization science, 27(2), 483-504.
15.Martins, A., Branco, M. C., Melo, P. N., & Machado, C. (2022). Sustainability in small and medium-sized enterprises: A systematic literature review and future research agenda. Sustainability, 14(11), 6493.
16.Plumlee, M., Brown, D., Hayes, R. M., & Marshall, R. S. (2015). Voluntary environmental disclosure quality and firm value: Further evidence. Journal of accounting and public policy, 34(4), 336-361.
17.Qian, W., Burritt, R. L., & Monroe, G. S. (2018). Environmental management accounting in local government: Functional and institutional imperatives. Financial Accountability & Management, 34(2), 148-165.
18.Qian, W., Hörisch, J., & Schaltegger, S. (2018). Environmental management accounting and its effects on carbon management and disclosure quality. Journal of cleaner production, 174, 1608-1619.
19.Schaltegger, S., Etxeberria, I. Á., & Ortas, E. (2017). Innovating corporate accounting and reporting for sustainability–attributes and challenges. Sustainable Development, 25(2), 113-122.
20.Susanto, A., & Meiryani, M. (2019). Antecedents of environmental management accounting and environmental performance: Evidence from Indonesian small and medium enterprises. International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, 9(6), 401-407.



