Accountants going Green
Based on the title, you would expect me to be writing about how you can make more money in your practice. Well if that was your first thought, you would not be entirely wrong. This article is about the environment and how we in the accounting field can help to protect the environment for future generations. I like most of you are involved in recycling on an almost hit or miss basis. While I am concerned, short of buying a new high efficient automobile, I am almost clueless and operating green and recycling. Changes that I have made to my own office, while good for the environment, were generally made to reduce my overhead expenses.
There are thousands of small businesses that are going green by cutting energy cost, reducing the waste that is generated, and reducing the carbon foot prints from their offices and vehicles. Reading this article you immediately being to wonder, what can I do. My practice is not anywhere like the corporate giants like General Electric, IBM, or Dell Computers that actually implement “Green Programs” as both a means of saving the environment, saving money and a great public relations campaign. Of course with their economic clout, they can also require their suppliers to operate in an ecologically sound manner and of course take credit for their actions.
Our small businesses have a great potential for impacting on the environment. It is estimated that between 70 to 80 percent of all employees in the United States work for small businesses. This equates to approximately 26 million small businesses. So it would seem that the small business in the U.S. have probably only scratched the surface of energy savings and operating environmentally friendly. Most small business have a fear that operating environmentally friendly will cost them more then they will ever recoup. More and more we live in a world of “What’s in it for me”. So going “Green” must perform two basic functions for the small business owner....