Proposal of design of environmental hidden costs for citric acid productive process of a food stuff company in Palmira city (Department of Valle)

Abstract

At organizations traditional costs tend to be placed according to calculated representation of elements involved in their production; but every production process is linked to environment, whether it causes a benefit or a damage, an environmental cost.  The purpose of this work is to account for some of these hidden environmental costs, show their characteristics, and some criteria through which such costs may be classified and represented by accounting. For such purpose, data collected through interviews, production cost information, and reports by the environmental control plant, data provided by a food stuff company in the municipality of Palmira (Valle) are used. By using such data, a useful matrix is prepared which proves the magnitude of hidden environmental cost.