Environmental auditing : the New Zealand response to an evolving discipline

Abstract

Following US trends, several companies in New Zealand are now carrying out environmental audits as a means of improving their environmental management. This type of auditing is distinct from environmental accounting, and auditing procedures used by government agencies. A wide range of internal environmental auditing practices have been adopted from verifying company compliance with regulatory standards, through to a total assessment of how "green" a company is. This latter type of audit can be seen as an objective companies should move towards. A survey of environmental" auditing in New Zealand revealed two important points. Firstly, nearly all companies that have carried out environmental audits intend to continue the practice in the future. Secondly, New Zealand companies appear to have a more reactive approach to environmental auditing than foreign owned companies. To ensure that companies do not market audits, without making genuine improvements in environmental management, central government needs to take steps to protect the integrity of auditing. These measures should not discourage companies from continuing to take their own initiatives for improving environmental management.