La información contable y los derechos de emisiónpresupuesto de emisiones y la utilidad de la información revelada en las cuentas anuales

Abstract

Since the Real Decreto-Ley 5/2004, which transposed Directive 2003/87/CE, was approved some industrial sectors are required to submit a number of allowances for greenhouse gases equivalent to emission level achieved during reporting period. As these emissions are closely linked to the production process, companies must adjust their emission levels to the number of allowances they hold. However, to make the system flexible, the emissions trading market was created where companies can sell their surplus emission rights to companies that need more allowances. Many questions arise from a business point of view about this new market and allowances such as what the strategies should be planned to avoid deficits of allowances. When should the companies go to the market to buy or sell allowances? At how much should it cost? How accounting transactions about allowances must be registered? How will it affect companies’ results? To answer these questions we need to analyse how different functional organization areas will be affected and establish the variables related to this new item. In this sense, the information subsystem whose main activity is to relate the different business areas with each other and with the business setting and so it must provide appropriate information to enable the right decisions, will be particularly affected. It is precisely in this area where we place the accounting system, which is aiming to develop the information about the equity and the results of company and communicate it to the stakeholders, internal users (management accounting) and external users (financial accounting). Thus we reach the main objective of our study which is to analyse how the accounting system information will be affected by the emissions trading market. For that, we will study how the new elements should be included in the financial information and their effects in product cost. For such purpose, we suggest appropriate formats for the data presentation in order to facilitate the task of making decisions. Therefore, our research analyses the main features presented by the emissions trading market to deduce how the participation of the companies affects themselves. Next, from the perspective of management accounting, the production structure of the company is studied to identify emissions sources such as the use of materials and/or fuel consumption. Furthermore we examine the relationship between emissions sources and manufactured goods and rate the allowance as fixed/variable and direct/indirect cost. This has enabled the analytically develop of budget greenhouse gases emissions that could help managers make the right decisions. The research continues with the accounting information for external users. In this sense, accounting regulations and specialized research have been reviewed to determine the criteria for the accounting treatment of emission rights and the information should be disclosed in the annual accounts. Then, after defining the items which form it, we have formulated an index of usefulness of the published information on allowances. Finally, that index has seen applied to test the usefulness of the information disclosed in the annual accounts by the Spanish electricity companies from 2005 to 2010.