Environmental Audit Study

The development of human society is based on the environment, but human beings have been destroying it all the time. The serious environmental pollution is one of the results of the people's behaviors and it influences our lives directly. The sustainable development of the human beings can not dispense with environmental protection. As a supervisory tool, Auditing should take on duty in environmental protection. Environmental auditing was introduced when the environmental problems became more and more serious. And now, more and more people care about environmental auditing. Environmental auditing is facing good developmental opportunity. However, the theories of the environmental auditing are not perfect and they need more researches to improve . In the thesis, I point out some problems in the current environmental auditing researches and discuss them at the same time through criticizing the environmental auditing theory of the world. The intention is to make some progress in current environmental auditing researches. There are nine parts in the thesis. The summarization of environmental auditing researches makes the first part, in which current environmental auditing researches are discussed. Environmental auditing researches began about in 1980s.In 1991, a few theses were published in Managerial Auditing of England and then the environmental auditing researches were heated. There are four viewpoints about the incentives of the environmental auditing. They are social incentive theory, accountability, law confinement theory and commercial response theory. My thesis analyzes these views respectively and points out that environmental auditing is the result of the development of the society and the discipline of auditing. All the incentives are the reasons for the appearance of the environmental auditing. Environmental auditing is based upon three theories, which are sustainable development theory, externalities theory, econometrics and statistics. I think that the environment value theory, which underpins environmental audit's aim, tech and contents, is also an important base of the environmental auditing. Although great progress have been made in environmental auditing theory research, there are still some problems that have been ignored: 1. Environmental auditing research departs from environmental accounting research, 2. Environmental auditing research departs from the theory of other audits, 3. The basic theory research of environmental auditing departs from the applied theory research of environmental auditing. 4. Environmental auditing theory research departs from the practical situation of our country.The framework of environmental auditing theory is discussed in the second part. The first problem that should be solved is to select the foundation of the theory. The thesis chooses the aim of environmental auditing to support the whole theory framework. On this foundation, the essence, postulates, functions, standards, subject, object and contents, process and tech of environmental auditing establish the theory framework. The thesis discusses the aim and the essence of the environmental auditing in the third part. There are two levels of the aim, which are the collective level and the concrete level. To promote the sustainable development of the society and economy makes the collective level of aim. The concrete level of aim is to ensure the full-scale and effective performance of the environmental responsibility. The essence of environmental auditing is a control activity, which is determined by the aim of environmental auditing. The postulates and the functions of environmental auditing constitute the fourth part. Auditing postulates, which are the premises of environmental auditing, include: 1. Accountability relationship postulate; 2. Just suspicion postulate; 3. Verifiability postulate; 4. Independence postulate; 5.Validity postulate. Examination, supervision, attestation and assessment make up the functions of the environmental auditing. The functions are not unchangeable all...