Award schemes ACCA

A host of award schemes for environmental reporting have sprung up around the world, perhaps the most significant being the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) scheme in the UK. Started in 1991, it aims to support the development of corporate environmental techniques. ACCA is one of the largest professional accountancy bodies in the world, with nearly 200 000 members. 

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Most of these award schemes utilise certain guidelines/criteria. In nomenclature terms, there is often considerable overlap between these CER award schemes and environmental reporting guidelines. For example, the ACCA criteria are also referred to by some as guidelines, which is fair enough as they are every bit as comprehensive and relevant as some of the so-called guidelines (see section 4.3). 

The ACCA award scheme has emerged as one of the leaders in this field, and has managed to attract government support in that the UK Environment Minister has presented the awards in recent years. Table 3.14 shows the winners of the ACCA awards for the years 1991-1999. 

The ACCA set up the UK Environmental Reporting Awards (ERAs) scheme in 1991, which at the time of writing had completed its ninth cycle (see section 3.7). The scheme aims to support the development of corporate environmental techniques. The ERAs are now regarded as a major national initiative, which reflects the growth in corporate environmental reporting and increased demand from stakeholders for corporate accountability. The ACCA concept has become the prototype for many other country award schemes, as well as attracting the attention of the UK environment minister to present the awards for four consecutive years. 

Following the success of the ACCA award scheme in the UK, a pan-European scheme was launched in 1997, known as the European ERA (EERA). By 1998, equivalent accountancy associations from six countries were involved the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Germany and France. Portugal joined in 1999. 

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