Research Papers

Already from the start-up of the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme, several investigations and analyses has shown that the involved actors are far from treating the emission rights uniformly in their accounting. There is no accepted and uniformly applicable procedure to determine the exact category and value of these new asset items and to identify how the obligations arising due to the repayment of emission rights are to be assessed. At the same time, the various evaluation procedures may cause substantial fluctuations in the profits at the various companies. Therefore, the companies and professional organisations involved in emissions trading are indeed entitled to demand clear guidelines about the handling of emission rights in accounting. The main problem arising in practice is that it is not clarified and considered even from a theoretical aspect how far the various presentation and evaluation methods contribute to the original objective of the emissions trading system, and hence which procedure would represent the most advantageous approach from accounting and social perspectives. The purpose of this research is that through the critical evaluation of the specifications about the statements of European countries and through the review of impacts made by these specifications, we contribute to the creation of a clear and uniformly applicable method in the field of accounting for emission rights.