page 490 question 9.39. in 1995, the institute of chartered accountants in Australia (ICAA) established an environmental accounting taskforce (which subsequently become the Triple Bottom Line Issues Group, which alternatively was discontinued) The taskforce release a number of documents, one being one being, The Impact of Environmental Matters on the Accountancy Profession (released in January 1998). within this document the ICAA Environmental Accounting Taskforce released a number of of environmental reporting issues that it believed require consideration. these includes;

a) are standards and guidelines needed to assist companies to meet the information needs of stakeholders in respect of the disclosure of environmental information?

b) do environmental impacts, whether quantifiable in monetary terms or not, warrants some form of disclosure to the extent the environmental implications are deemed 'significant' rather than material within the meaning of accounting standards?

c) does the provision of environmental performance information and advising on control aspects of environmental management system fall within the core skills of the accountants?

d) are the definitions of 'assets' and 'liabilities' in the conceptual framework appropriate to environmental accounting. If not, how should they be expanded? specifically: the environment as an entity, thereby allowing liabilities to be recognize without the intervention of a third party?

e) is the concept of materiality relevant to environmental reports?

f) should reporting of environmental issues according to traditional accounting concepts be progressed while the difficulties of monetary measurements are research further?

g) should general or industry-specific approaches be adopted to advance issues associated with environmental performance evaluation, reporting and auditing?

attempt to provide your own views on these issues.

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