Triple Bottom Line Accounting

1
Triple Bottom Line Accounting

• The 3-Legged Stool
• A tool used to measure an organizations
  activities
• Measurements include more than simple economic
  indicators
• 1 Social Accounting
• 2 Ecological Accounting
• 3 Economic Accounting

2
Social Accounting

• The well-being of all stakeholders are taken into
  account.
• Seeks to benefit as many social constituencies as
  possible
• Does not exploit or endanger any group

3
Social Accounting

• TBL business would
• 1 Not knowingly use child labor
• 2 Pay fair salaries to all of its workers
• 3 Maintain safe work environment
• 4 Not seek to exploit community

4
Ecological Accounting

• Refers to sustainable environmental practices
• Seeks to benefit the natural order as much as
  possible, or at at minimum, not to harm the
  environment.
• Seeks to curtail environmental impact, and
  attempts to reduce their ecological footprint.

5
Ecological Accounting

• Environmental sustainability may actually be more
  profitable for a firm in the long run
• Ecological accounting indicators are more easily
  quantified and standardized than indicators for
  social accounting
• Measuring environmental impact is quantitative
  and easy to display
• Measuring social impact is qualitative and
  therefore more easily subjected to debate

6
Economic Accounting

• Not the same as traditional bottom line of
  everyday commerce
• Within the framework of sustainability, profit
  is the economic benefit enjoyed by the host
  society
• Therefore, TBL approach shouldnt be interpreted
  as traditional corporate bottom line plus social
  and environmental impact accounting

7
Relevance?

• TBL is directly related to environmental
  management in that it gives ecological
  sustainability equal weight to economics and
  social factors
• Economy may grow, but environmental and social
  conditions often offset that growth

8
Why Triple Bottom Line
Earths carrying capacity cannot support our
current levels of exploitation and
consumption The collective ecological footprint
of the planets population is unsustainable, and
the current trends of growth and environmental
degradation suggest we are going to encounter
major problems in the near future
9
Conclusion

• Triple Bottom Line Accounting is an innovative
  approach to measuring growth
• Economic measurements alone are not sufficient
  indicators of progress
• There is a need to go beyond parochial analyses
  that disregard very important aspects of our
  environment and society

10
Sources

• Adam, C. (2003). Profit and principles Finding a
  balance with the triple bottom line. Electronic
  version. Water Science and Technology Water
  Supply, 3(1), 405-410.
• Elkington, John. (1999). Cannibals with Forks
  The Triple Bottom Line of 21st Century Business.
  New York New Society Publishers.
• Foran, B., Lenzen, M., Dey, C., Bilek, M.
  (2005). Integrating sustainable chain management
  with triple bottom line accounting. Electronic
  version. Ecological Economics, 52(2), 143- 157.
• Heller, T. (2002). Profitable environmentalism.
  Electronic version. Foreign Policy, (128), 13.
• Henriques, Adrian Richardson, Julie. (2004). The
  Triple Bottom Line Does it all add up?
  Assessing the sustainability of business and
  CSR. Sterling VA Earthscan Publications Ltd.  
• Langholz, J. A. (2002). External partnering for
  the triple bottom line People, profits and the
  protection of biodiverity. Electronic version.
  Corporate Environmental Strategy, 9(2), 145-154.
   
• Norman, Wayne Macdonald, Chris. (2003). Getting
  to the Bottom of the Triple Bottom Line.
  Retrieved October 12, 2007, from
  lthttp//www.businessethics.ca/3bl/triple-bottom- l
  ine.pdfgt  
• Maroochy Shire Council. (2007). Triple Bottom
  Line Reporting. Retrieved October 12, 2007, from
  lthttp//www.maroochy.qld.gov.au/sitePage.cfm?code
  tbl_reportinggt