Abstract:
The study involved a benchmark analysis and examination of the state of sustainability accounting and
reporting of four gold mining companies in Ghana from 2009 to 2015 comparing and contrasting the
sustainability accounting processes and the sustainability indicators being adopted by the these
companies as far as sustainability reporting initiatives are concerned. Further, the purpose examines the
accounting convention, traditional or otherwise, used to recognize, measure and disclose transactions
relating to the environment of four large-scale gold mining companies in Ghana. The study draws
extensively on publicly available official documents and interview data. Based on the responses from the
interview respondents and information from the publicly available official documents, it develops a case
report based on the key questions and other themes that emerge from the literature and the empirical
material. The study reveals that environmental accounting and reporting are now critical strategies that
environmentally sensitive industries like gold mining companies are seriously tackling. The findings
show that although the conventional accounting system was used in the recognition and measurement of
environmental transactions, the nature of environmental accounts, presentation and disclosure varies
across the companies. Some reports were stand-alone while others were integrated in the main annual
reports. The main significance of the study is that the findings, thus, reinforce the proposition that the
need for decoupling environmental accounting and reporting within the broader sustainability reporting framework is due. There is also the need to develop a positive rather than a normative environmental
accounting and reporting framework.
