Importance of Environmentally Managerial Accounting to Environmental and Economic Performance

The role of environmentally managerial accounting between environmental performance and economic performance has been investigated in the current project. On the one hand, this project tried to re-examine the causal links among environmentally managerial accounting, environmental performance and economic performance that have been discussed in previous research; on the other hand, it also explored the moderation of environmentally managerial accounting between environmental performance and economic performance that has been overlooked. The data was collected from 298 publicly listed enterprises in Vietnam’s three main stock exchanges. To test the causal linkages, multiple regression analyses were employed; whereas to test the moderating effect, hierarchical regression analyses with the interaction were undertaken. The results indicate positive influences of environmentally managerial accounting on economic performance and environmental performance that in turn puts a positive impact on economic performance. The adoption of environmentally managerial accounting in business is revealed as a moderator between economic performance and environmental performance. The causal link from environmental performance to economic performance becomes tougher when enterprises take more environmentally managerial accounting into consideration in business.


INTRODUCTION
highlighted on the benefits of adopting environmentally managerial accounting in runing firms. This scholar claimed that, to obtain the advantages of such a pactice, a framework is based on to build and adopt an environmentally managerial accounting in business. The polluting extent in environment is one of the most severe worldwide issues (Pandey and Singh, 2019), and it is considered as a barrier to the economical exploitation of natural resources. Holdgate (1979) referred to environmental pollution resulted from the activities by human into the natural environment. The serious effects of environmental pollution on the health of communities have drawn much attention from human (Rai, 2016). Therefore, it is necessary to decrease the level of environmental pollution in the surroundings (Khan and Ghouri, 2011). The reduction in environmental pollution can be reached by the environmental protection activities of individuals, businesses and governments. The success of environmental protection is mainly dependent on environmentally responsible behaviors of human. Environmentally responsible behaviors that refer to as actions which deliberately try to lessen the harmful influences of human activities into the natural environment, should be implemented in business committed to efficient initiatives of workplace sustainability (Kollmuss and Agyeman, 2002).
The pollution of environment in Vietnam has been a hot and serious area (Quyen et al., 1995). Therefore, numerous home and global papers have emphasized that the environmental issue is tremendously severe and alarmingly. In particular, the pollution in water and air are the most considerable. The figures have indicated Vietnam as one of the top economies creating the most severe environmental issues related to water and air. Currently, Vietnam has been facing giant challenges relevant to environmental pollution which has been arising from natural agents and anthropogenic activities (Chu, 2018). The adoption of environmentally managerial accounting in business is an action related to environmentally responsible behaviors. Furthermore, the adoption of environmentally managerial accounting in business has been confirmed as a vital determinant of organizational performance including environmental performance and economic performance that are interplayed (Christine et al., 2019;Zandi and Lee, 2019;Purnomo and Widianingsih, 2012;Koo et al., 2014;Chuang and Huang, 2018;Angelia and Suryaningsih, 2015;Sari and Tjen, 2017;Borger and Kruglianskas, 2006;Agan et al., 2016).
Overall, the current research work tries to scrutinize the role of environmentally managerial accounting in building organizational performance in Vietnam, in which the influences of the adoption of environmentally managerial accounting on environmental and economic performance in Vietnamese enterprises will be discussed and investigated. Furthermore, the adoption of environmentally managerial accounting could take moderating role in the research model, which but has been ignored in the prior literature. Therefore, this research tries to explore a possible moderating mechanism in the relationship among the adoption of environmentally managerial accounting in business, environmental performance and economic performance.

Environmentally Managerial Accounting and Environmental Performance
Hameed (2018) investigated ecological accounting, revealing that environmentally managerial accounting has integrated identifiable evidence, judgment and description of ecological expenses. Besides, the research results indicate that environmentally managerial accounting is a vital practice for conveying environmental expenses into firm control and direction to motivate them to adopt new techniques to decrease environmental pollution, and thus augment organizational effectiveness. Likewise, Hughes et al. (2001) highlighted the importance of environmentally managerial systems and their effects of environmental performance in business. In a recent analysis, Latan et al. (2018) assessed the task of environmentally managerial accounting in detail. The authors investigated the direct impact of environmentally managerial accounting in influencing environmental performance and also the contribution of other ecologically driven factors to impact both environmental performance and ecological performance. Susanto and Meiryani (2019) identified the internal and external elements that affect firms' accepting environmentally managerial accounting in business, revealing its consequent influences on environmental performance. The empirical findings verify the implementation of environmentally managerial accounting imposes a positive influence on environmental performance. The acceptance of environmentally managerial accounting for business is also deemed essential in increasing environmental performance for firms (Gul and Chia, 1994). According to de Beer and Friend (2006), industrial sectors that are more concerned about environmental responsibility, are relevant to environmentally responsible activities, which lead to improved environmental performance. Other researchers asserted environmentally managerial accounting could lead firms to fulfill environmental responsibility, which help to obtain superior environmental performance (Burritt et al., 2002;Ferreira et al., 2010;Zhou et al., 2017).
The practices of environmentally managerial accounting allow manager to employ available resources successfully to advance environmental performance (Pondeville et al., 2013). They are established to achieve organizational goals of sustainable ecological performance (Journeault, 2016;Guenther et al., 2016). The planning of environmental strategies is confirmed to maximize environmental performance of firms by using the practices of environmentally managerial accounting in business (Henri and Journeault, 2010;Journeault, 2016). Furthermore, Gholami et al. (2013) explored the effects of information systems on environmental performance, indicating that there exists an influence of environmental system adoption by a firm on environmental performance. Grounded on Magsi et al. (2018), management control practices play a vital role as a tool used to garner information and evaluate resources in adopting strategies in business successfully. The mediation role of environmentally managerial systems is discovered in the correlation between corporate culture and environmental performance. The positive influences of environmentally managerial information practices on environmental performance have been clear (Spencer et al., 2013). The systems of environmentally managerial accounting help to reduce environmental expenses, obtain better product pricing, improve production process, retain skilled workers as well as improve organizational image (Gibson and Martin, 2004;Burritt et al., 2002). Firms with good practices of environmentally managerial accounting likely enjoy lower expenses connected with environmental actions, and therefore leading to higher environmental performance (Adams, 2002). Therefore, it can hypothesize that: H 1 : The adoption of environmentally managerial accounting in business improves environmental performance

Environmentally Managerial Accounting and Economic Performance
The results of Christine et al. (2019) assert that economic performance is positively determined by environmentally managerial accounting. According to de Beer and Friend (2006), environmentally managerial accounting supports in conveying environmental liabilities as environmental expenses. San Ong et al. (2016) indicated there is a significant relation of environmentally managerial practices and economic performance in a developing country. The reason is that, environmental management practices offer numerous benefits to firms such higher sales or investors' confidence. Environmentally managerial accounting has been still questioned by several scholars whether to bring any benefits for the firms as a result of the mixed research results obtained in prior studies. Link and Naveh (2006) stressed the standardization of quality assuring practices could result in improved environmental performance and then higher economic performance. Based on Dunk (2007), environmentally managerial accounting plays a necessary role in contributing to competitive advantage, which potentially improves the links among customers, shareholders, employees and governments by assisting the meeting of environmentally responsible expectations.
The advantages of environmentally alert plan consist of decreased disposal expenses, inferior environmental risks, minimized waste and superior efficiency (Zhang et al., 1997) and the frame offered by environmentally managerial accounting contributes to product quality leading to competitive advantages. Furthermore, Gamble et al. (1996) stated international activities on environmental pollution enable companies to consider production and marketing of products based on the environmentally friendly viewpoint, because a reduction in environmental expenses can lead to better economic performance. Magara et al. (2015) concentrated on the influence of environmentally managerial accounting on economic performance of firms, because environmentally managerial accounting is useful to classify and assign environmental expenses. The acceptance of environmentally managerial accounting in business is positively interrelated to economic performance of firms. Additionally, alternative methods are utilized calculate environmental expenses such as the 'environmental expenditure deciding tree' as Rinner (2001) explained. Environmentally managerial accounting and economic performance was suggested to go hand-in-hand (Darnall et al., 2007), which indicates that there is room for supplementary environmental policies to encourage the implementation of environmentally managerial accounting in business, which results in improved economic performance.
In several businesses, the intention of adopting better environmentally responsible practice is that the main indices that they refer to as competitive advantages are the usage and implementation of environmentally responsible practices (Gunarathne and Lee, 2015). The systems of environmentally managerial accounting require the continuous involvement of managerial accountants in economic performance of firms through better environmentally responsible practices (Appiah et al., 2020). Grounded on the managerial aspect of environmentally managerial accounting, Henri and Journeault (2010) investigated the linkage between environmental controlling systems and economic performance, suggesting an indirect influence of environmental controlling systems on economic performance through environmental processing. In addition, another research by Dunk (2002)

Environmental Performance and Economic Performance
Environmental performance is assessed by companies that are concerned about environmental pollution caused by organizational activities. Organizations expect stakeholders to react confidently to organizational reputation related to the natural environment, and so augment the benefits of stakeholders that lead them to increase their investments in business (Hersugondo et al., 2019), which will maximize organizational value. In a study regarding environmental and economic performance, Djuitaningsih and Ristiawati (2011) discovered a positive influence of environmental performance on economic performance that is because a firm with excellent environmental performance likely obtains positive responses by its stakeholders, resulting in a sustainable growth in profit.
On the standpoint of environmental performance, if companies take impulsive measures on environmental damage, they could achieve possible benefits such as better organizational image, the satisfaction of consumers that are concerned about environmental pollution, cost saving by conserving power, and strong relations with the communities (Hutchinson, 1992). In addition, positive and sustainable activities in businesses could develop environmental performance, which leads to a higher level of satisfaction in stakeholders, so augmenting competitive advantages (Stock et al., 1997). Furthermore, Chuang and Huang (2018) declared that the adoption of environmentally managerial practices to enhance environmental performance results not only in business opportunities, but also in a reduction in environmental pollution, environmental conflicts, organizational risks, and manufacturing expenses as well as an increase in product quality and production efficiency, which will improve organizational image and economic performance.
Various organizations have tendency to improve productivity, reduce expenses, and enhance effectiveness due to environmentally managerial practices, the results of which can be evaluated at organizational and environmental levels (Melville, 2010;Watson et al., 2010;Ryoo and Koo, 2013). In addition, empirical evidence where environmental performance positively affects economic performance has been established in numerous studies (e.g. Klassen and Whybark, 1999;Seuring and Müller, 2008). Environmentally managerial practices are adequate to distract the attention of stakeholders concerning environmental issues, which have been becoming international problems. Rakhiemah and Agustia (2009) indicated social responsibility disclosure and environmental performance simultaneously impose a positive influence on economic performance. Russo and Fouts (1997), anchored in the resourcebased view, conjectured that the relation of environmental with economic performance is positive. Conversely, Porter and Van Der Linde (1995) asserted that directors who do not pay sufficient attention to environmental matters likely suffer poor economic performance. The findings of Al-Tuwaijri et al.

Role of Environmentally Managerial Accounting in Environmental amd Economic Performance
As the suggestions mentioned, the adoption of environmental managerial accounting in business improves both environmental performance and economic performance. In addition, environmentally performance enhances environmental performance. Christine et al. (2019) studied factors influencing environmental and economic performance, revealing that the adoption of environmentally managerial accounting in business not only provide the firms with the ability to enhance environmental performance, but also improve economic performance. Likewise, Susanto (2018) indicated that, there are effects of environmental accounting information system alignment both on environmental and on economic performance. In addition, Russo and Fouts (1997) found out environmental performance and economic performance are positively correlated and the growth of industry moderates the causal linkage from environmental performance to economic performance. The abovementioned arguments could lead to the hypothesis that the adoption of environmental managerial accounting in business likely moderates the link between environmental performance and economic performance, because it determines both of the aspects of the relationship. Overall, it can conjecture that: H 4 : The adoption of environmentally managerial accounting in business could moderate the association between environmental performance and economic performance

Environmentally Managerial Accounting
Drawing on Christ and Burritt (2013)

Environmental Performance
Drawing on Latan et al. (2018) and Chuang and Huang (2018), in the current research, environmental performance (ERN) was measured with eight dimensions (ERN 1 to ERN 8). These dimensions focus on compliance with current environmental protection set of laws, environment related effects and advantages relating to environmental friendly activities. The dimensions were evaluated with a five-point Likert scale ((1) completely disagreement; (2) quite disagreement; (3) neutral attitude; (4) quite agreement; completely agreement).

Economic Performance
Anchored in Delaney and Huselid (1996), this research measured economic performance (EPR) using eleven dimensions (EPR 1 to EPR 11), which are comparative. These eleven dimensions were generated by evaluating informants' perceptions on the organizational performance of their enterprises in comparison with other enterprises during the last 3 years. The dimensions were computed with a five-point Likert scale ((1) completely disagreement; (2) quite disagreement; (3) neutral attitude; (4) quite agreement; completely agreement).

DATA COLLECTION
The data was collected from publicly listed enterprises in Vietnam. This research decided on Vietnam as a case study, because it is a fast developing economy. Issues related to environmental deterioration have been on the increase there. Therefore, environmentally friendly activities related to environmental sustainability in Vietnam, which has been understated (Nguyen, 2014), are desired to be expansively evaluated to help the governmental services issue proper environmentally friendly policies for Vietnam's business environment to become more environmentally sustainable and then more economically sustainable.  (Hair et al., 2010). The survey technique was applied for each environmental manager for every chosen enterprise.

FINDINGS
The reliability analyses that are procedures used to assess numerous common measures of scale reliability as well as to offer information on the connections among separate dimensions in the factor. The results are exhibited in Tables 1-3. All of the 32 items take their own item-total correlations greater than the 0.5 value. Furthermore, all of the Cronbach's αs surpass the 0.7 level. The αs if their own dimensions are removed are all lower than their current αs. Additionally, KMOs are larger than 0.7, the lowest acceptable value (Hair et al., 2010). Therefore, they are all soundly retained for subsequent steps. The causal relations in the research model are analyzed using regression analyses. The outcomes are presented in

CONCLUSION AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS
The current research investigated the causal relations among ERN, EAM and EPR, then taking into account the moderation of EAM in the research model. Preceding researchers have examined the effect of EAM on ERN and EPR (Pondeville et al., 2013;Henri and Journeault, 2010;Journeault, 2016), as well as the influence of ERN on EPR (Magara et al., 2015;Marie-France et al., 2007). However, those studies explored the effects in separate research models. Moreover, none of them has scrutinized the moderation of EAM between ERN and EPR. The currennt project provides thorough analyses on the friendship among ERN, EAM and EPR by examining the moderation of EAM in the research model.
The empirical outcomes exposed that EAM plays an important role in improving ERN and EPR; and especially it functions as a moderator in the causal connection from ERN to EPR. The correlation between ERN and EPR becomes stronger at higher levels of EAM. This implies that enterprises where EAM is considered can achieve better ERN and EPR, and the effect of ERN on EPR is higher as well. The findings offer an insight into the complex relations among ERN, EAM and EPR to environmentally managerial accounting researchers as well as to managers who should pay more attention to the adoption of environmentally managerial accounting in business, which could lead to better environmental performance and economic performance. Moreover, environmental performance strongly improves economic performance. Overall, the enterprises with sound environmentally managerial accounting in business can win stakeholders' confidence, which help to gain more completive advantages and finally better organizational performance.