Environmental management accounting and environmental management in manufacturing industries in Uganda

Given the importance of the environment and the attention environmental issues are currently receiving from public and private organisations, it has become crucial for especially manufacturing industries, to consider the impact of their activities on the environment. This study aims at finding out what actions, if any, manufacturing industries in Uganda are taking to enhance effective environmental management, extent to which environmental management accounting (EMA) is applied, costs and challenges that these industries face in the process of implementing EMA. Some of the findings reveal that manufacturing companies in Uganda are, indeed, taking environmental issues seriously. Some companies are adopting internally developed environmental policies, setting environmental goals and objectives. However, firms have encountered challenges such as difficulties in defining, separating, identifying, classifying, measuring and controlling environmental protection costs, inaccessibility to environmental management technologies, limited knowledge and training, endemic corruption and inadequate legislation. The study ends with recommendations and suggests areas for further research.