European Union Short Food Supply Chain Policy and Environmental Management Accounting

Introduction

The financial crises in many parts of the world, high unemployment, increases in food and energy costs, political and economic uncertainties have created a turning point in terms of accounting history. The 1997 Kyoto Protocol and the 2009 Copenhagen climate change meeting, the international environmental strategy promised for the future global deal, are in vain. For this reason, there is a need for an approach to art and practices in the definition of accounting, which focuses on the theme of environmental accounting and accountability (Staden et al., 2011).

Stakeholders, such as business customers, require environmental sustainability, while businesses are competitive in measurable issues such as product quality, price, and supply chain. However, the impact of stakeholders on the environmental strategy may influence the choice of measuring environmental performance indicators of enterprises.

Environmental problems related to neoclassical economics are mostly seen as social concern and environmental regulations are put into effect by governments in this regard. Environmental strategies developed for this purpose are defined as initiatives that can reduce the effects of transactions on the natural environment by using green sustainable resources and environmental management system, energy consumption and waste-reducing products, processes and corporate policies (Latan et al., 2018).

In neoclassical accounting with neoclassical paradigm origin, the social, organizational and political aspects of accounting are often ignored (Jones, 2010). While accounting emerged from the need to meet the purpose of reporting the results of economic activity, the economy was born from the desire to understand the economic operation. Environmental economics and its sub-branches have emerged by correcting the market failures of the neoclassical theory of intervention, including the inclusion of environmental issues into the traditional human society and creating the decision-making process. The environmental approach of the economy has three sub-branches as a natural resource economy, environmental economics, and ecological economy. The main area of environmental economists is to identify the problems in the efficient sharing of resources and to reveal the inaccuracy of the neoclassical economic analysis (Holt, 2005).

Accounting allows for analysis of many data needed in decision-making processes by providing regular information and indicators for decision-makers. In the evaluation of data quality, the accuracy of the information from the data quality dimensions is very important. However, the accuracy of knowledge is only one of the six dimensions of accounting information quality. In the Australian Statistics Bureau (ABS, 2009), Eurostat (2005), IMF (International Monetary Fund) (2012), OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) (2012) and Canada Statistics (2002), specifies the six characteristics that determine the quality of data in general as relativity, accuracy, timeliness, accessibility, interpretability and consistency. These dimensions are accepted as academic concepts related to data quality (Vardon et al., 2018).

The ethical approach acting linearly with environmental accounting has increased the traditional awareness of man to control and manage existing needs without losing the ability of future generations to meet their own needs and to respect the environment (Zirham et al., 2016). As a part of many business general business strategies; they show examples of positive commitments that cover the environment, including efficient use of energy, greenhouse gas reduction, and waste reduction. Some of the companies in the retail sector include the development of new stores with solar energy and water conservation standards, corporate commitment to reducing waste, some of the features of the store's branded products that use environmental-friendly packaging and recycling programs to highlight environmental performance (Creel, 2010).