preview

Triple Bottom Line Accounting Concept And Framework

Decent Essays

Triple Bottom Line Accounting
By: Emma Juskovic

The Triple Bottom Line (TBL) accounting concept and framework was first created by John Elkington in the mid 1990’s, and has since changed the way for-profit, non-profit and government agencies measure the sustainability of their initiatives and company. The TBL framework is flexible and can be adopted and molded based on the specific needs of an organization. The framework is comprised of three parts, which are: social (People), environmental (Planet), and financial (Profit), commonly referred to as 3Ps. This framework does spark debate regarding the ethical problems behind measuring, quantifying and accounting for social and environmental variables, which is often not supported by many …show more content…

Businesses can prepare their own analysis for each category by obtaining numerous pieces of information, which relate to their current state as well as knowledge about how their company’s decisions and operations impact their society and environment.
Financial measures in the Triple Bottom Line accounting framework should follow the common financial accounting guidelines, Generally Accepted Accounting Principle’s, and International Financial Reporting Standard’s. The financial measures in the Triple Bottom Line accounting framework however are not under as much scrutiny as the Environmental and Social measures, though there is debate over certain ethical aspects of Financial Accounting as a well. Financial Accounting in a business is usually not changed in a dramatic way, when a company decides to adopt the TBL framework. Some changes that financial records might reflect include an increase in expenses related to environmental or social care, a decrease in expenses that reflect a detriment to the society or environment (i.e. Transportation Expense), a possible increase in revenues as a result of customer support of the adoption of TBL.

Triple Bottom Line accounting brings light to the importance of accounting for Environmental measures, as it helps a company track their ecological footprint and make plans to improve it. A company can be profitable for several years, however if

Get Access