Subject: Environmental Accounting

Date:    04/20/2000 9:00 AM
     
     
Solidwaste.com on-line newsletter recently featured an article about the U.S. 
Securities and Exchange (SEC)                    Commission's 90-day review to 
decide whether to drop its requirement that foreign companies traded on U.S. 
stock                     exchanges abide by U.S. generally accepted accounting 
principles (GAAP) for items termed "environmental costs."
     
The article maintained that the foreign companies would otherwise be allowed 
listing on U.S. stock exchanges under accounting standards "drawn up by the 
London-based International Accounting Standards Committee, which doesn't have 
specific environmental rules."
     
Is it the case that without specific environmental accounting rules, foreign 
companies and their shareholders will not as easily recognize the importance of 
environmental cleanup and liability costs?
     
Would listing these costs make financial-statement  "preparers" and independent 
auditors more knowledgeable about the significant federal laws on and costs of 
environmental remediation, and would it be likely that this knowledge would lead
to greater compliance?
     
Would allowing these different standards also harm the chances for global 
agreement on environmental accountability?
     
As an advocate of resource conservation, I find that one of the best financial 
arguments in favor of waste prevention and recycling is the long term 
environmental costs of consumption and disposal. If these costs are not 
specifically acknowledged, making the case for conservation could be harder.
     
David Goldstein
(805) 648-9242