There are three approaches to controlling environmental costs.

1. Cleaning up pollutants after they are produced

2. Improving processes to reduce the amount of waste produced; and

3. Preventing pollution by never producing polluting materials.

Recently we have seen companies minimizing environmental costs by moving high-impact operations to countries that have lax environmental regulations. This business decision focuses on the cost of pollution that is borne by the company.

1. Research the companies that have recently been cited for producing environmental hazards outside the United States.

2. Choose one company and summarize their issues and what financial benefits they realized by producing outside the United States.

3. How are environmental issues captured in cost accounting?

4. What is not captured?

5. What are the ethical considerations with producing outside the United States?