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Mandatory environmental reporting has been seen as a way of increasing accountability of organizations, regarding environmental issues. This paper is concerned with one standard, which requires all the Spanish companies to include environmental disclosures in their financial statements. From the survey of the rationale of the disclosure requirements we suggest that more sound environmental initiatives are obscured by an end-of-pipe emphasis. Additionally, from the research of the reporting activity of a sample of companies a low compliance level results, with roughly 80% of companies not providing any environmental information. In addition, those companies who are reporting some environmental information neglect those aspects of the regulation that are not in their interests to report. The interpretation of these findings, using the theoretical distinction between administrative and institutional reforms, leads us to conclude that the Spanish standard on environmental disclosure is insufficient to enable new accountability relationships and to empower stakeholders.

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Critique originated by earlier theorization of environmental accounting, as a way of building environmentalist visibility of business, led Gray et al., to study environmental accounting in the dynamics of organizational change. They concluded that environmental accounting is being used to``negotiate the conception of the environment'' by companies that have not significantly changed. In order to investigate whether Gray et al.'s model and conclusions apply to a different cultural context, we have conducted nine case studies in Spain. We found that Spanish organizations are not truly changing their conventional perception of the environment, even in those cases where generalized structural and organizational changes are taking place. Moreover, the use of environmental accounting is coupled with an attempt to negotiate and control the environmental agenda.The authors would like to thank Marõ Âa J. A Â lvarez, Frank Birkin, Salvador Carmona, two anonymous referees and participants at the 21st Congress of the EAA, for their comments on earlier versions of this paper. We are especially grateful to Carol Adams who guided us through the revision process. We also thank Juan Ban Äos, Sonia Caro, Pilar Fuentes and Rosario Martõ Ân for their support in conducting the research. DGICYT (96-1353) and IDR (Universidad de Sevilla) provided financial support for this research.

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to explore the interplay between strategy, environmental management systems and environmental accounting, and their role in improving environmental performance. Design/methodology/approach -By engaging with organisations through field research, this paper analyses the aspects of the European Community's Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS), an environmental management system (EMS), that act as catalysts for change through the development of intangible assets that improve environmental performance. Evidence is collected from semi-structured interviews with environmental managers and management accountants from ten Spanish EMAS registered sites. Findings -The embedding mechanisms of EMAS are considered. From the analysis, six valuable intangible assets for improving environmental performance were identified: awareness of employees; environmental knowledge, skills and expertise of employees; the commitment of managers; cross-functional coordination; the integration of environmental issues in strategic planning process; and, the use of management accounting practices. These intangible assets were used to define three levels of environmental embeddedness: primary, visible, and advanced. Practical implications -This paper provides insights into the interface between environmental management systems and management accounting and the implications of this for organisational change and environmental performance. Originality/value -This paper contributes to fieldwork research within the environmental accounting literature by engaging with organisations in addressing the question of how EMAS improves environmental performance. Furthermore, it demonstrates that involvement primarily of internal, but also external, participants enhances further development of EMAS.