Accounting for biological assets : the experience of an Australian conservation company

The purpose ofthis paper is to address, via a case study, some of the key measurement issues within environmental accounting, in particular the methods used to measure threatened and endangered wildlife. This study examines the accounts of Earth Sanctuaries Ltd, a listed conservation company in Australia over a seven year financial reporting period beginning in 1995 and ending in 2001, a period both prior and subsequent to, the implementation of Australian Accounting Standard AASB 1037 - Self Generating and Re-Generating Assets (SGARA s), which sought to recognise the value of biological assets within financial statements. In particular the study examines these values in light ofthe conceptual framework qualitative characteristics of relevance and reliability. The study concludes that because ofthe current Commonwealth policy of non-trade in wildlife, and the consequent absence of an active and liquid market for trade in these assets, efforts to provide legitimacy to the environmental cause are hampered, and questions raised over the surrogate measurement base used to value the assets.26 page(s