Disclosing the Consumption of Natural Resources by the Companies through the Eco-efficiency Indicators

This study aims to show, according to the accounting standards, what should or should not be recognized and/or disclosed as environmental liabilities. It also aims to verify through of a real case, the capacity of the Eco-efficiency Indicators of providing information that allow an evaluation of the companies’ consumption of natural resources in their activities. The company under study was the Companhia Siderúrgica de Tubarão (CST) within the period from 1999 to 2003. The findings show that the traditional accounting model contemplates the recognition and demonstration of the possible environmental liabilities when companies exceed the legal limits of pollution, and/or when they assume constructive environmental liabilities. We still conclude that the Eco-efficiency Indicators proposed by the ISAR/UNCTAD would meet satisfy, at least partially, society’s demands for information that allow an increased control over company’s actions regarding the consumption of natural resources within legal and constructive limits. Finally, we emphasize the results are valid only for the searched company, the specific case analyzed.