Environmental activities of agricultural enterprises: accounting and analytical support

Abstract

The article outlines the causes of the ecological crisis in Ukraine and various factors affecting the natural environment, such as air pollution, depletion and degradation of land resources, exhaustion of forest and water resources, caused by agricultural production. Thus, in Ukraine, as of 1 January 2018, more than 1.1 million hectares of degraded, unproductive and technogenically contaminated lands counted to expand, and there were 315.6 thousand hectares of unproductive lands that needed improvement; 57% of the territory of the country was affected by wind and water erosion, about 12% were flooded lands and 20% more - polluted lands. The authors detail the consequences of the impact of agricultural activities on the environment. It is necessary to reflect environmental activities in accounting, including environmental assets (natural resource potential, production waste, non-current assets of environmental protection purposes), liabilities (environmental liabilities) and results of activities (environmental incomes, environmental expenses, financial results from environmental activities). The components of natural resource potential, which are to be reflected in the accounting system, are determined. The authors of the research provide an analytical estimation of the state, structure and changes of land resources in Ukraine and define the degree of compatibility between the modern system of agriculture and new environmental and technological requirements. The article discusses normative and legal provisions concerning land protection in Ukraine, as well as normative legal acts on ecologisation of agriculture. The tendency of the recent years shows that the mechanism of combining measures of financial incentives and legal responsibility in the field of land protection, as well as the establishment of legally determined environmental restrictions in land use by means of land management, remains insufficient in terms of optimising the use and protection of land in Ukraine. The study covers the main problem aspects of the land use in Ukraine. Analytical data describing the anti-desertification measures planned until 2030, as well as measures for the restoration of degraded lands and soils, including lands affected by desertification, droughts and floods, are presented. The need to reflect the costs of implementing measures to protect and restore the natural resource potential (including land resources) is emphasised. The authors generalise the information on three groups of accounting objects in terms of the use of agricultural land: objects affecting the qualitative condition (natural fertility) of land, objects representing land capital with a certain level of natural fertility which are at the disposal of enterprises, and objects that depend on the type of agricultural lands and their natural fertility. It is suggested to generalise the information on the objects of ecological accounting in the form of the Environmental Activity Report, which will increase the effectiveness of the managerial decisions on the environment at micro- and macro-levels.