Research on the Framework System of Natural Resource. SEEA2012, SNA2008 and National Statement of. Assets and Liabilities

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1 Research on the Framework System of Natural Resource Statement of Assets and Liabilities : An Idea Based on SEEA2012, SNA2008 and National Statement of Assets and Liabilities HU Wenlong, SHI Dan (Institute of Industrial Economics, CASS, Beijing, , China) Abstract: Natural Resource Statement of Assets and Liabilities can be regarded as a snapshot that an ecological responsible subject takes to the value of the natural resource assets that it owns and the ecological environmental responsibilities that it bears at a special time. First, by using Driving Forces-Pressure -State-Impact-Response chain theory model, System of Integrated Environment and Economic Accounting (SEEA2012), the System of National Accounts (SNA2008) as the theoretical bases, this essay constructs a theoretical framework for the Natural Resource Statement of Assets and Liabilities; then, by using the preparation methods and technical means of National Statement of Assets and Liabilities, the essay constructs the Natural Resource Statement of Assets and Liabilities with natural resource assets, natural resource and natural resource net assets as the three elements, so as to reflect the strength of the natural resource environment; finally, the essay puts forward a series of auxiliary measures of policies, such as promoting the reform of natural resource administrative management, establishing and improving the of natural resource ledger system, establishing the natural resource operating right trading market, and issuing the natural resource measuring and accounting criterion system, etc. Keywords: natural resource statement of assets and, environmental economic accounting, national economic accounting, framework system 1 PRESENTATION OF NATURAL RESOURCE STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES The exploration of preparing the Natural Resource Statement of Assets and Liabilities emerges in the tendency from constructing single natural resource accounting to comprehensive natural resource environmental statement system. National Statement of Assets and Liabilities is a table which is built by referring to the Statement of Assets and Liabilities technologies of enterprises, taking the country as the accounting subject, classifying and listing the assets and of all economic departments of a country at a special time, and respectively aggregating. Currently, although there is no mature method or system for preparing the Natural Resource Statement of Assets and Liabilities Natural Resource Statement of Assets and Liabilities, different Author Biography: Hu Wenlong, male, assistant researcher, main research directions: financial accounting theory, management accounting and environmental accounting, huwenlong1980@126.com. 1

2 subject areas have included the theoretical bases and possible technical routes for preparing the Natural Resource Statement of Assets and Liabilities. 2 THEORETICAL BASES FOR PREPARING NATURAL RESOURCE STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES 2.1 Theoretical Model of DPSIR Chain The theoretical model of DPSIR chain regards the mutual impact of the human activities and the environmental system from the perspective of system analysis. It classifies the evaluation indicators of the economic and social environmental system into five aspects, i.e. driving forces, pressure, state, impact and response. The basic analysis framework is as follows: the driving forces (D) of the economic society generate pressure (P) to the environment and cause changes to the environmental states (S), such changes will have a certain impact (I) on the human society and nature on the contrary, people will make a certain social response (R) after realizing such changes and the impact that they bring, and the response will have impact on the driving forces, pressure and even environmental states 1. Based on the theoretical model of DPSIR chain, all-chain analysis can be conducted to the natural resource substances and energy cycle under the impact of human activities. First, natural resources are a kind of natural beings; most of the time, they naturally exist independent from the human activities and initially exist in the form of ecological assets for the human beings; when the natural resources take part in the human economic activities as factors of production, their flow from the environment into the economies are recorded as the input of natural substance assets; the circular flow of natural resources in the economic activity system is recorded as product, service and other material quantity; when the natural resources exit the human economic activity system and enter the environmental system again, most of them are recorded in the accounting system in the form of human activity residue. In general, environment is not only the source of all natural inputs (minerals, energy, land, forest, water, etc.) of the economic system but also the final carrier of human activity residue, and the residue of all economic activities will finally enter the environmental system again. Fig. 1 approximately describes the circular flow chain of the natural resources in the economic environmental system. Based on the above material cycle of natural resources and by the different stages of the human social and economic activities that they are in, the material flow of the natural resources can be approximately classified into two types: The first type is natural resources which enter into the human economic and social system, circulating in the economic system in the form of product or service; the second type is natural resources which do not enter the human economic and social system, not only including those which initially serve as the production factor reserve and are still in the form of ecological resources, but also including those (residue) which exit the economic system in the state of residue and enter the ecological environmental system again. 1 Svein Homstvedt, Wei Hu Environmental and Natural Resource Statistics of North European Countries [J], China Statistics, (2):

3 Fig. 1 Relationship Between Environmental Flow Cycle of Natural Resources and Accounting System 2.2 System of Environmental and Economic Accounting (SEEA 2012) The System of Environmental and Economic Accounting (SEEA 2012) is the international statistical standard for the systems of environmental and economic accounting. In the system, natural resource account carries out all-chain measurement and recording from the perspective of material cycle. Particularly, the central framework of the System of Environmental and Economic Accounting (SEEA 2012) sets seven groups of natural resource asset accounts based on clarifying the definitions of classification of all types of natural resources. Such assets accounts include two categories of accounting tables, i.e. physical quantity and value quantity accounting tables, and basically reflect the flow pattern of the natural resources in the ecological and economic cycle, i.e. Beginning stock-current-period stock increment-current-period stock decrement-current-period physical quantity and price adjustment-ending stock. Meanwhile, SEEA 2012 carries out system accounting to two types of main environmental activities (resource management and environmental protect) in the form of account. The above asset and activity accounts classify water resources, energy, minerals, timber, fish, soil, land, ecological system, pollution and waste, production, consumption and accumulated information into the single measuring system, and specify particular and detailed measuring method for each area. Therefore, accounting elements and presentation subjects of the Natural Resource Statement of Assets and Liabilities can be presented with the accounting of single natural resource assets of SEEA 2012 and the accounting of environmental activities and relevant flow thereof as the theoretical and reality bases. 2.3 National Statement of Assets and Liabilities An interdisciplinary approach is required to integrate the economic and environmental information. According to the requirements of Statistics Law of the People s Republic of China, it needs to prepare a National Statement of Assets and Liabilities and four institutional sector Statement of Assets and Liabilities in the system of national accounts (SNA). The method of National Statement of Assets and Liabilities is a preparation method and technical 3

4 system which takes a country or the government of a country as the accounting subject, includes the scattered classified accounting accounts into the unified asset and liability right and interest framework by integrating accounts, and comprehensively reflects the strength of the natural resources of the country in the forms of beginning and ending asset, liability and net asset stock, etc. To disclose the information of the general situation of the natural resources through the method of National Statement of Assets and Liabilities is to objectively and comprehensively reflect the static stock of the natural resources of the ecological responsible subject at a time, show the strength and structure of natural resource assets at a time and reflect the changes to the natural asset stock within a certain period of time with the Statement of Assets and Liabilities instruments in accounting. Natural Resource Statement of Assets and Liabilities is a method which discloses the information of the natural resources by making full use of the theoretical bases and accounting methods of SEEA. To sum up, Natural Resource Statement of Assets and Liabilities can be regarded as a snapshot that an ecological responsible subject takes to the value of the natural resource assets that it owns and the ecological environmental responsibilities that it bears at a special time. Natural resources, in the natural environment, which can be input into the human economic activities as factors can be considered as natural resource assets, residue which exits the economic cycle and enters the environmental system will bring the pressure and responsibilities of changing the environmental state, and can be considered as natural resource (environmental ). 3 BASIC FRAMEWORK SYSTEM OF NATURAL RESOURCE STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES 3.1 Basic Elements of Natural Resource Statement of Assets and Liabilities Natural Resource Statement of Assets and Liabilities (NRSAL) is the static reflection of the physical quantity and value quantity of all natural resources at a certain time. In the Natural Resource Statement of Assets and Liabilities, the natural resources can be classified into three types of accounting elements, i.e. natural resource assets, natural resource and natural resource net assets according to their basic characteristics Natural Resource Assets Natural resource assets are the sum of the natural environmental factors which natural exist, have use value and can improve the current and future welfare of human beings. Natural resource assets mainly include the physical quantity and value quantity of the natural resource assets, in a country or area, which have clear property right. The natural resource assets are reported by the type of natural resources. For the accounting scope of the natural resource assets, each area can choose to first bring into the natural resource assets with clear property right, standard management and true data according to the actual situation, and other natural resource assets can be gradually brought into the accounting scope when the conditions are mature Natural Resource Liabilities Natural resource refer to the present obligations for the natural resources that an accounting subject shall bear at a certain time from the perspective of economic nature. The present obligations refer to the responsibilities which are borne by human beings in the natural resource process, can be measured by currency, and shall be repaid by asset or labor service. Natural resource are classified and reported by the activity types which lead to environmental responsibilities, and are mainly classified into payable environmental protection, (payable) resource management and (payable) natural phenomenon. For the accounting scope of the natural resource, the responsibilities (solid residue, waste gas emission, 4

5 waste water discharge, etc.) which are caused by the environmental emission of economic and social activities can be first accounted. The are the present obligations that the economic and social development bring to the environmental impact of the natural resources, and their value quantity can be confirmed through a certain procedures and measures Natural Resource Net Assets Natural resource net assets are the sum (green wealth) of all natural wealth that a country or area has. They shall be equal to the result that the natural resource assets are subtracted by the natural resource in quantity, i.e. the net value after all the natural resource assets are subtracted by all the natural resource. According to the definition and accounting principle of Gross Ecosystem Production (GEP), GEP is the natural resource green wealth that a country or area creates during the natural resource utilization and protection processes. Theoretically, it is equal to the increment of the natural resource net assets of the country or area in the period. That is to say, GEP=Year-end natural resource net assets-year-beginning natural resource net assets. Therefore, Natural Resource Statement of Assets and Liabilities is an effective instrument for accounting GEP. 3.2 Reporting form of Natural Resource Statement of Assets and Liabilities Natural Resource Statement of Assets By referring to the definition of SEEA, Article 2 of China s Environmental Protection Law and the classification of Chinese Natural Resource Manual to natural resources and according to the physical characteristics and functional properties of the natural resources, Natural Resource Statement of Assets in this essay theoretically mainly includes the following five categories of natural resource assets, i.e. energy, mineral products, land, forest and water. The Natural Resource Statement of Assets is presented by the statistical department according to the summarized data, and the specific natural resource assets are filled by relevant natural resource management departments by the type of the natural resources Natural Resource Statement of Liabilities Natural Resource Statement of Liabilities mainly refer to the environmental protection responsibilities, resource management responsibilities and potential natural phenomena responsibilities which are involved during the whole process in which human beings develop and utilize natural resources and shall be confirmed and measured by the accrual basis principle. Natural resource are the present responsibilities, for the natural resources, that the accounting subject shall bear at a certain time. SEEA (2012) classifies a great variety of environmental activities: environmental protection and resource management. By the main source of environmental, natural resource environmental can be classified into which are produced in human activities and which are produced in natural changes; which are produced in human activities can be classified into (payable) environmental protection and (payable) resource management. Therefore, the presentation contents of the natural resource mainly include (payable) environmental protection, (payable) resource management and (payable) natural phenomenon. Such environmental can be further segmented into legal (or explicit ) and deductive (or implicit ). The sources of the natural resource liability data shall be determined by the environmental responsibilities brought by the economic or social activities of a country or area Reporting of Natural Resource Statement of Assets and Liabilities According to the aforesaid theoretical framework system of the classification of the natural resource assets and 5

6 the presentation thereof as well as the classification of natural resource and the presentation thereof, the essay explores the general framework form of the Natural Resource Statement of Assets and Liabilities through the National Statement of Assets and Liabilities technologies, methods and means on the premise that SEEA (2012) applies the account instruments in accounting to widely account physical, asset and functional accounts, so as to form the following presentation framework (Table 1) of the Natural Resource Statement of Assets and Liabilities, and comprehensively disclose the strength of the natural resource environment of a country of area. All in all, natural resource net assets are the total wealth of the natural resource environment of a country or area. The presentation of Natural Resource Statement of Assets and Liabilities follows the basic accounting equation Natural resource assets-natural resource =Natural resource net assets. The natural resource net assets are calculated by the difference between the natural resource assets and the natural resource. Table 1 Natural Resource Statement of Assets and Liabilities (Theoretical Framework) Natural Resource Assets Natural Resource Physical Value Liabilities and Net Quantity Quantity Assets 1 (Payable) 1 Energy resources environmental protection 1.1 Coal 1.1 Waste water discharge 1.2 Chemical oxygen 1.2 Oil shale demand emission 1.3 Petroleum 1.3 Ammonia nitrogen emission 1.4 Nautral gas 1.4 Waste gas emission 1.5 Coalbed methane 1.5 Sulfur dioxide emission 1.6 Other natural energy 1.6 Nitrogen oxide resources emission 2 Mineral resources 1.7 Smoke (dust) emission 1.8 General industrial 2.1 Metal mineral resources solid waste generation 2.2 Non-metal mineral resources 1.9 Carbon diode emission 3 Land resources 2 Resource management 3.1 Arable land 2.1 Mineral and energy management 3.2 Garden 2.2 Timber resource Physical Quantity Value Quantity 6

7 Natural Resource Assets Natural Resource Physical Value Liabilities and Net Quantity Quantity Assets management 3.3 Forest land (including 2.3 Aquatic resource ecological forest resources which management are prohibited to be deforested) 2.4 Other biological 3.4 Lawn (including marshes or resource management freshwater wetlands) 3.5 Commeical service land 2.5 Water resource management 3.6 Land for industrial and 2.6 Other resource mining warehousing management 3.7 Residential land 3 Natural climate 3.8 Public management and 3.1 Liabilities caused by public service land earthquake 3.9 Special land 3.2 Liabilities caused by tsunami 3.10 Transportation land 3.3 Liabilities caused by typhoon 3.11 Other lands 4 Forestry resources (timber resources) 4.1 Forest 4.2 Forest 4.3 Other forest resources 4 Natural resource net assets 5 Water resources 4.1 Biological value 5.1 Surface water (terrestrial water) (excluding marshes or 4.2 Economic value freshwater wetlands) 5.2 Groundwater 5.3 Soil moisture water Physical Quantity Value Quantity 4 POLICIES AND SUGGESTIONS ON PROMOTING PREPARATION OF NATURAL RESOURCE STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES Due to such restrictions as the natural resource environmental management system, resource measuring and accounting system, evaluation technology and pricing mechanism, basic data defects, etc., the following aspects need to be reformed in order to prepare the Natural Resource Statement of Assets and Liabilities: first, establish the National Natural Resource Management Commission ; second, promote the reform of the natural resource 7

8 administrative management system and mechanism; third, establish and improve the natural resource ledger system; fourth, establish the natural resource operating ring and use right trading market; fifth, improve the natural resource measuring record accounting criterion system. REFERENCES [1] Yang S, Cao M. Concept of macro environmental accounting system framework[j]. Accounting Research, 2010(8): [2] Li Yang, et al. Chinese national statement of assets and 2013-theory, method and risk evaluation [M].Beijing:China Social Sciences Publishing House, [3] Gao M, et al. Comprehensive environmental economic accounting and measuring analysis-from international experience to Chinese Experience[M].Beijing: Economic Science Publishing House, [4] Feng Z, Yang Y, Li P. From natural resource accounting to preparation of natural resource statement of assets and [J]. Bulletin of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 2014(7): [5] Huang R, Zhao Q. Natural Resource Accounting-from Account to Statement of Assets and Liabilities: Evolution and Enlightenment[J]. Financial and Economic Theory and Practice:Bimonthly, 2015(1): [6] Hu W. Analysis to Basic Theoretical questions about natural resource statement of assets and [J]. China Economic & Trade Herald, 2014,10: [7]State Statistics Bureau. Preparation methods for Chinese statement of assets and [M].Beijing: China Statistics Press, [8] Li Y, Zhang X, Chang X. Chinese national statement of assets and 2013[M]. Beijing: China Social Sciences Publishing House, [9] Lei M, Li F. Preparation of Chinese green social accounting matrix[j]. Economic Science, 2006(3): [10] United Nations, European Commission, Food and Agriculture Organization, International Monetary Fund, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the World Bank. System of Environmental-Economic Accounting 2012: Central Framework[EB/OL]. [11]Victor P A. Pollution: Economy and environment[m]. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1972: [12] Leontief W. Environmental Repercussions and the Economic Structure: An Input-output Approach[J]. Review of Economics and Statistics, 1970, 52(3): ( 责任编辑刘照胜 ) 8