Businesses are now paying closer attention to their practices as our world is threatened by climate change, air pollution, deteriorating wildlife habitat, and other environmental issues. In an effort to stay abreast of potential environmental impacts, companies often hire environmental accountants onto their staff. Since the 1960s, environmental accounting has been a unique niche devoted to calculating the environmental costs of business activity so that management can make efforts to reduce them. Environmental accountants have the goal of helping their company identify ways to maximize use of resources and develop more eco-friendly business processes. Environmental accountants are financial geniuses who keep environmental impacts low and eliminate the risk for fines to make the bottom line as profitable as possible.
Salary
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the 1.18 million accountants currently employed in the United States make a mean yearly salary of $73,670, which is equivalent to an hourly wage of $35.42. Environmental accountants who work for accounting firms will earn slightly more at $77,510, but the highest paid are employed by the federal government with an average salary of $93,430 every year.
Beginning Salary
When just starting out in environmental accounting, you’ll probably land in the bottom tenth percentile of earnings with a yearly income around $40,850. However, it’s important to note that environmental accountants with years of experience and managerial roles in larger companies can eventually bring home a handsome six-figure salary of over $115,950 annually.
Key Responsibilities
Environmental accountants have the primary responsibility of identifying, measuring, analyzing, and reporting the future environmental costs of certain business operations. Environmental accountants make certain that company officials take necessary precautions to protect the environment and prevent the occurrence of disasters. On a typical day, environmental accounting professionals may be involved in collecting data on materials flows, analyzing pollution controls, studying how natural resources are used, forming suggestions to manage environmental impacts, reporting to executives or investors, and examining financial costs of alternate chemicals or processes. Environmental accountants report more than just dollar signs to ensure management makes proactive decisions for ecologically sustainable practices.
Necessary Skills
Being successful in environmental accounting will require that you have strong analytical skills for quickly pinpointing environmental issues and suggesting effective solutions. Having good interpersonal skills is essential because environmental accountants must communicate their findings to clients, managers, government officials, and/or shareholders. Environmental accountants should have basic math skills to accurately interpret numerical figures. Good organizational skills with a key attention to detail is another must for environmental accountants to meticulously examine financial documentation. Environmental accountants in managerial positions will also need leadership skills to manage their staff effectively and ethically.
Degree and Education Requirements
Before you can jump into a career as an environmental accountant, you’ll first have to pay your dues by earning at least a four-year bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited college. It’s typical for aspiring environmental accountants to major in accounting, but undergraduate degrees in business or finance could be helpful. Some employers will even prefer candidates with a background in environmental science or engineering. Most environmental accountants are CPAs, which means you’ll likely need to satisfy the 150-hour requirement. Attending an accredited graduate business school to obtain a Master of Accountancy (MAcc) or MBA in Accounting is the best route for these credentials.
Pros and Cons of the Position
As with other careers, environmental accounting comes with its fair share of rewards and challenges that you should weigh carefully. On the plus side, environmental accountants earn a healthy salary with included benefits, retirement savings, bonuses, and more. Environmental accounting isn’t as mundane as some other specialties because it involves more than simply counting pennies. Environmental accountants enjoy better hours than some other CPAs with a traditional 40-hour workweek. On the other hand, environmental accountants can feel overwhelmed with the stress of correctly calculating environmental costs to protect the planet. Travel time may be required at times to visit business sites firsthand and analyze the environmental impact of certain processes. Being certified will also require environmental accountants invest in several years of college and continuing education courses regularly.
Getting Started
While earning an appropriate education, it’s important that you start forming a resume with real-world experience in both accounting and environmental science. Taking on internships, co-ops, part-time jobs, consulting projects, and even volunteer service will make you more marketable. Few schools offer programs in environmental accounting, so it’s your duty to blend your skills in these two fields together through experience. Once you’ve fulfill the 150-hour requirement in most states, you will be qualified to become a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). Passing a national exam and participating in professional development will be required. It’s also wise for young environmental accountants to prove their ability by becoming a Certified Professional Environmental Auditor (CPEA). You can choose from specialties in Environmental Compliance, Health & Safety, Management System, or Process Safety. Having four years of relevant work experience performing a minimum of 20 audits is mandated to take the exam.
Future Outlook
There have been stricter regulations placed on businesses to make certain the most eco-friendly practices are being utilized to slow the threat of global warming. Tighter standards will make it necessary for organizations to depend on environmental accountants to lower their carbon footprint, maximize tax incentives, and minimize ecological liability. According to the BLS, overall employment in accounting is poised to grow slightly faster than average by 13 percent from 2012 to 2022, which will create 166,700 new jobs in all specialties. Environmental accountants will find plentiful job prospects available in private corporations, accounting firms, non-profit organizations, and government agencies like the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Overall, environmental accounting is a rather new specialty field that focuses on measuring the monetary terms of a company’s impact on the natural environment. Environmental accountants may crunch numbers related to contamination cleanup costs, environmental fines, tax credits, pollution prevention controls, eco-friendly technologies, waste management prices, etc. Environmental accountants play a prominent role in finding opportunities to improve product designs, lessen environmental impact, lower compliance costs, and conserve much-needed energy. You can turn your green living habits and passion for conservation into a monetarily and intrinsically rewarding financial services career by becoming an environmental accountant.
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