Environmental auditing

Environmental Auditing (EA) is a very new area in the different industries in Singapore. As it has its origins in the United States of America, the literature pertaining to EA are largely written in the context · of the source country. There are relatively very few literature that speaks of EA from a local perspective, which in this case would refer to Singapore. Thus this project would look into EA from a local perspective through describing a local benchmark, Motorola (Singapore) Pte Ltd and then developing a checklist from the literature review and the case study to help interested companies to start an EA program. The group besides performing the usual literature review, has also performed a case study. Interviews and site visits were conducted on a regular basis throughout the project. The case study and the literature review combined with an analysis are used to develop the comprehensive checklist. This paper will discuss the seven critical success factors in an EA which consist of : management commitment and support, independence and objectivity, professional competence of audit members, the audit process, documentation, quality assurance and follow up. The benefits of carrying out an EA program include reduced costs, improved efficiency, reduced environmental risks and liabilities and enhanced company's image. Whereas the costs of implementing would include finance costs, personnel costs, costs of disruptions to daily operations and certain legal issues. This paper evaluated the performance of the EA by internal parties and external parties. It discusses the potential conflict between independence and objectivity and professional competence when EA is performed as an integral role to the functional area to be audited, which means that the members of the functional areas will audit their individual work areas. The conclusion arrived at suggests that EA should be performed by the internal audit staff external to the functional area and independent as a functional area of the company. External auditing in this respect is also possible provided that the auditors are "armed" with the technical qualifications, experience and expertise to perform the job. The usual financial auditor would not be sufficiently competent for the job.ACCOUNTANC