A three-dimensional model featuring material flow, value flow and organization for environmental management accounting

Abstract In the context of sustainable development, environmental considerations embedded in the life cycle of a product cannot be separated from the environmental management accounting of product and waste costs, or from the quantification, monitoring and evaluation of external environmental damage. In this paper, a three-dimensional model for environmental management accounting is built that takes into consideration the dimensions of material flow, value flow and organization; this model is based on material flow cost accounting and the traditional life cycle theory. On this basis, this paper explains the basic principles of the resource value flow analysis method, and it dissects the internal mechanism of the three-dimensional model from the perspective of the enterprise, the industrial park and the nation. Then, using aluminum production as a case study, this paper briefly expounds on the implementation of resource value flow analysis from the perspective of the organization. This three-dimensional model expands the organizational boundaries of material flow cost accounting, providing guidance for tracking and quantifying the environmental impact of material flow over the entire life cycle of the enterprise, and evaluating the efficiency of the objective of material flow.