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(IJRSSH) 2020, Vol. No. 10, Issue No. III, Jul-Sep e-ISSN: 2249-4642, p-ISSN: 2454-4671

The Use of Product Life Cycle Assessment

Technology to Achieve Product Sustainability
Muhammad Aliwi Kanoa, Prof. Dr. Manal Jabbar Sorour

Baghdad University - College of Management and Economics

DOI: 10.37648/ijrssh.v10i03.035

Received: 30th June, 2020; Accepted:28th July, 2020; Published: 22nd August,2020

ABSTRACT

This research aims to demonstrate the knowledge pillars of the product life cycle assessment technique and how to measure
the cost according to this technique, and to clarify its role in reducing costs, improving product quality and optimizing the
use of available resources, and a set of results has been reached, the most important of which are: The separation of
environmental costs through the use of product life cycle assessment technique helps the Management in handling the
increase of these costs, reducing the rates of environmental pollution and preserving resources, which contributes to
achieving the sustainability of the product, and based on the results obtained, a set of recommendations were presented, the
most important of which were: The government shall encourage economic units in their endeavor to reduce environmental
impacts and optimal exploitation of available energy and resources, through the provision of subsidies and tax exemptions.
Keywords: environmental management accounting, environmental costs, product life cycle assessment, product
sustainability.

INTRODUCTION: economic units, through the use of environmental

management accounting techniques, which contributes to
The interest in environmental issues and its problems has providing the information that the administration needs to
clearly increased in recent times, as a result of many identify opportunities for cost reduction and optimal
pressures and motives, including misuse of natural exploitation of resources, energy and other environmental
resources, thermal emissions, radiations and pollutants, opportunities to achieve the sustainability of its products.
high product costs, and the increasing demand of
stakeholders that economic units adhere to taking care of
environmental issues and the harmful effects that they can FIRST SECTION: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
cause to the surrounding environment and community. AND LITERATURE REVIEW
The economic units faced new requirements, including
responding to environmental laws and regulations, Research Methodology
obtaining detailed information on environmental First: Research Problem
performance, evaluating products and operations from an The global openness of the markets has led to large
environmental perspective, and conducting knowledge numbers of foreign products at low prices compared to
exchange internally and externally from an environmental local products, which have exposed Iraqi economic units
perspective, and therefore there are deficiencies in to many pressures for various reasons, the most important
traditional management accounting tools, and they need of which is the high cost of their products and the low
reconfigure its tools to suit the environmental concerns of level of their quality, which requires the search for
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solutions that lead to rebalancing between the thus will lead to the deprivation of future
responsibilities that fall on the shoulders of the economic generations of them.
units, to reduce environmental pollution and reduce waste,
and rationalize the use of resources and energy, and thus Literature review: Some foreign studies related to the
reduce costs in order to provide sustainable and research topic will be presented as follows:
environmentally friendly products capable of competing 1. A study of (Held et al, 2018), entitled:
with foreign products in terms of price and quality, and Current challenges for sustainable product
thus achieve customer satisfaction. development in the German automotivesector: A
In light of this, the research problem is embodied through survey based status assessment.
the following questions: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the process of
sustainable product development and try to increase
1. Does measuring the cost of products according to knowledge regarding how to overcome the consequences
the product life cycle assessment technique and enhance awareness of sustainability, as well as
contribute to providing the necessary information provide insights about the currently used methodology
to address the environmental impacts? that may serve as a basis for future research. I have
2. Does the use of the product life cycle assessment reached many results, including that the ability of
technique contribute to providing high quality, companies to understand sustainability is crucial to the
environmentally friendly products and achieve success of its implementation, as sustainability should be
product sustainability? within the general structure of the company through
Second: Research hypothesis central responsibility and the broad integration of all parts
The research is based on a basic hypothesis that: of the company and its employees, as well as focus on the
"Cost measurement according to the product life cycle three aspects of product sustainability (economic,
assessment technique helps to achieve product environmental and social).
sustainability".
Third: Research Objectives 2. A study of (Abbass et al, 2019), entitled:
The research objectives can be defined as follows: A Systematic Literature Review on Sustainable
1. Explaining the knowledge pillars of the product Production Indicators to Assess the Sustainable
life cycle assessment technique and how to Performance of Industries
measure the cost according to this technology. The study aimed to analyze the various frameworks of
2. Clarifying the role of this technology in reducing sustainable products to determine the elements and
costs, improving product quality and optimizing components of those frameworks, as well as to understand
the utilization of available resources, which the integration of sustainable performance in
would contribute to achieving product manufacturing companies, as the scientific literature
sustainability. related to sustainable products was reviewed, and the
results indicated that proposals related to sustainable
Fourth: Research Importance product indicators should be more detailed to include all
The importance of research can be clarified as follows: the pillars Sustainable development. She also indicated
1. The use of product life-cycle assessment that the two techniques of product life cycle cost and
technology can contribute to reducing costs, material flow cost accounting are the most reliable
improving product quality to meet the techniques regarding the subject of sustainable product,
expectations and needs of customers, and and these techniques help to enhance managers' awareness
providing appropriate information at the right of different frameworks for achieving product
time to assist the Management in carrying out its sustainability.
functions, which makes it capable of facing the
changes and challenges in the modern 3. A study of (Zhou et al, 2019), entitled:
manufacturing environment. Life Cycle Comparison of Greenhouse Gas Emissions
2. The great importance of the issue of product and Water Consumption for Coal and Oil Shale to
sustainability, which has become one of the Liquid Fuels
necessary requirements at the present time as a The aim of the study is to conduct a comparative
result of the environmental pollution caused by analysis between coal to liquid fuels (CTF) and shale oil
economic units, in addition to the misuse of to liquid fuels (STF), from the perspective of the life cycle
natural resources, which led to their decline, and of greenhouse gas emissions and water consumption. The
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study concluded that the emissions of greenhouse gases about it to meet the needs of external and internal users
resulting from the life cycle of CTF and STF are (15.54 ) (Ali et al, 2019: 1)
and (9.82) tons of CO2 equivalent/tons of fuel, which is The traditional financial and cost accounting failed to
much higher than oil to liquid fuels (OTF) (6.36) tons of provide environmental information, especially
CO2 equivalent/tons of fuel, and the water consumption information related to environmental costs, as many
for the life cycle of the CTF path it is the largest (12.98 researchers concluded that traditional accounting systems
tons/ton of fuel, followed by the path of (STF 7.69 track) lack recognition of the impact of the environment, so a
tons/tonof fuel, and the path of OTF1.18) ton/ton of fuel. new field in accounting has emerged called environmental
management accounting that works to reduce
4. A study of (Muza, 2018), entitled: environmental risks, impacts and costs (Wang et al, 2019:
An Assessment of the Relevance of Environmental 233). Environmental management accounting techniques,
Management Accounting for Sustainability in including product life cycle assessment, have been used
Zimbabwe's Extractive Industries specifically to assist economic units in managing natural
The aim of this study is to assess the current and potential resources and energy and reducing pollution, and the
suitability of environmental management accounting in efficiency of resource use for the sustainability of the
the mining and extractive industries sector in Zimbabwe, product (Burritt et al. , 2019).
and the study concluded that environmental management Environmental management accounting is defined as
accounting contributes positively to the mining sector, identifying, allocating, providing and using
thus enhancing sustainability through the three pillars of environmental, material and monetary information, to
sustainable development. support decision-making in order to achieve product
sustainability (San et al, 2018: 210), as well as managing
environmental and economic performance through the
SECOND SECTION: KNOWLEDGE PILLARS OF development and implementation of appropriate
THE PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT accounting systems and practices related to the
TECHNIQUE environment. In improving environmental performance,
especially with regard to managing carbon emissions and
The product life cycle assessment technique is one of the energy consumption, to achieve product sustainability, it
environmental management accounting techniques, and may also enhance accountability for environmental
before presenting the knowledge foundations for this impacts, and usually includes techniques such as life cycle
technology, it is necessary to address the development of costs, total cost accounting, product life cycle assessment
environmental management accounting, the nature of its (Gibassier & Alcouffe, 2018:1). Also, it is the process of
information, and the environmental costs and their types collecting and analyzing financial and non-financial
as follows: information, which enables the management to make
better decisions regarding the optimal use of resources
First: Evolution of environmental management and energy and the promotion of environmental-related
accounting activities (Chathurangani & Madhusanka, 2019:2).
Due to the increase in population growth and industrial The researchers believe that in light of the recent
development in the twenty-first century, the global developments in the industrial environment, and as a
economy is growing rapidly, and although this has great result of the increase in the number of economic units and
economic and social benefits, the manufacturing the diversity of their products, especially those products
processes have consumed a lot of resources and energy that have a significant impact on the environment such as
and made environmental degradation more dangerous, tire manufacturing and construction industries, which led
causing pollution of land, water and air. As a result, many to a decrease in natural resources and energy and an
stakeholders such as shareholders, customers, employees, increase in environmental pollution rates, and so on. This
suppliers and governments have become increasingly was accompanied by constant pressures by stakeholders
concerned with environmental problems, as the increasing for the purpose of reporting environmental impacts, and
evidence shows that these environmental problems were the lack of traditional accounting systems to determine
largely caused by industrial economic units, and thus environmental costs led to the emergence of
many economic units face pressure to take measures to environmental management accounting that helps reduce
control the negative effects of operational activities on the the impact of environmental pollution, rationalizing the
environment, and providing the necessary information exploitation of natural resources and energy, which leads

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to reducing environmental costs in order to achieve Third: Environmental costs

product sustainability.
Environmental costs are the internal and external costs
Second: Nature of Environmental Management related to environmental damage and protection, and
Accounting Information: include waste and emissions treatment, environmental
The application of environmental management accounting prevention and management, the value of purchasing
requires the provision of data not only at the monetary materials from unproductive outputs, and processing
level, but also at the physical level in order to measure unproductive outputs, as well as all costs that have a
environmental costs and identify opportunities for direct financial impact on the economic unit, individuals,
reducing environmental risks and impact in order to society and the environment. Waste is part of the
reduce waste and emissions and consume resources and environmental costs, and according to (United Nations,
energy efficiently, thus achieving cost savings and Division for Sustainable Development), waste is all
product sustainability accordingly. materials, including water and energy, that have been
There are two types of environmental management purchased and paid for, but have not been converted into
accounting information, namely: marketable products, and therefore this indicates
1. Information about Physical Environmental inefficiency in production. It also includes all non-
Management Accounting (PEMA) commodity outputs including solid waste, wastewater and
(Qualitative): air emissions (Iredele & Ogunleye, 2018: 3-4).
This information shows how much of the material According to the Environmental Protection Agency
purchased was actually used in production, and how much (1995), the types of environmental costs incurred by the
of it was actually used as waste, wastewater, or air economic units are: (Keit, 2011: 14), (Duman et al, 2013:
emissions (Keit, 2011: 11), which is the measurement and 90).
recording of actual inputs of materials, energy and water, 1. Conventional costs: the costs arising from the
and outputs from products, waste and emissions that are use of machinery, equipment, raw materials and
generated during the manufacture of products, such as the consumer goods.
total amount of water consumed, the volume of waste 2. Hidden costs: The costs that are hidden from
generated, the amount of materials used, the amount of managers, such as the initial environmental costs,
energy consumed, and this information is used for internal legal obligations, and voluntary actions, which
decision-making (Govender, 2016: 22). PEMA focuses on are incurred before operating the activities of the
the impact of the economic unit on the nature process or the system, as many economic units
environment expressed in physical units such as consider these costs as expenses in that period
kilograms and hours of work (Muza, 2018: 30). and do not give sufficient importance to these
costs in its daily business decisions and
2. Information about Monetary Environmental activities.
Management Accounting (MEMA): 3. Image and relationship costs: (although they are
It is related to environmental costs and profits which measurable), but they are difficult to measure in
include waste control costs, emissions and environmental comparison with other environmental costs, such
research and development costs, sales of scrap and waste, as annual environmental reporting costs, and
and recycling subsidies (Mokhtar, 2015: 61), which is a relationships with local people.
subsystem of environmental management accounting that 4. Probable, dependent or approved costs: These
deals with financial implications. Of environmental are the costs that may arise in the future
performance, and provides management with the ability to depending on the environmental impacts, such as
better evaluate the financial aspects of products the costs of treating and compensating for future
(Govender, 2016: 25). accidental damages to the environment (oil
spills), and fines and penalties.
5. External costs: They are costs that are not borne
by the economic unit directly, but which arise
from activities that have harmful effects on the
environment. Figure (2) shows the types of
environmental costs.

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Figure (1): Types of environmental costs

Environmental
costs

External costs
Internal costs

Human Environmental Image and Probable costs Hidden

degradation Conventional
impact costs cost relationship cost costs costs
Costs
Source:HalukDuman, M. Yılmazİçerli, Mehmet Yücenurşen, & İbrahim Apak, (2013),

The two researchers believe that it has become effects result from the processes that occur during all
Costs
increasingly clear that determining the environmental stages of the product life cycle, as the lack of data related
costs related to the product, work, or services, and to determining the actual costs and impacts leads to
recognizing them in accounting for the economic unit, is uncertainty in the assessment. Therefore, the use of
necessary for the purpose of making correct decisions, (LCA) technology will help in identifying potential
and the environmental costs represent the total costs that opportunities and areas for improvement and making
the economic unit bears, voluntarily or as a result of legal appropriate decisions to address these harmful effects:
settlements. To protect, rehabilitate or treat the damages Muthukumarana et al, 2018 (2-3), and thus it is a tool that
resulting from the impact of the economic unit on the allows to assess the potential environmental aspects and
environment, and therefore they are internal costs that impacts of all stages of the product life cycle (Barros et al,
have a direct impact on the economic unit and are under 2019: 2).
its control, and external costs that occur as a result of its LCA includes four phases: definition of goal and scope,
activities that affect society and the environment within inventory analysis, impact assessment, and interpretation
which the economic unit operates. (Fauzi et al, 2019: 2), as follows: (Valente et al, 2018: 5),
(Zhou et al, 2019: 75-76). ), (Corti et al, 2019; 84)
Fourth: Life Cycle Assessment Technology (LCA) Stage 1: Goal and Scope
The life cycle assessment is a standardized behavioral It specifies the reason for conducting a life-cycle
method for analyzing the environmental risks associated assessment, possible applications, and other preliminary
with the product/process throughout the life cycle, and it elements necessary as a basis for the study, such as
is one of the most important and advanced environmental functional unit, system boundaries, or assignment
management accounting tools, as it is widely used to procedure.
compare alternative processes, through analyzing the
product life cycle starting from the extraction of raw Stage 2: Life Cycle Inventory Analysis
materials to their final disposal, By evaluating the In this stage, the material inputs and outputs are
process, it is possible to identify the hotspots and thus can calculated in the sense of the resources that enter such as
prioritize the investment and activities necessary to raw materials, auxiliary materials and energy, and those
improve its environmental performance, and the life cycle that leave the system such as emissions, waste and
assessment allows a comparison of technology in terms of products through the collection of data on consumption of
environmental burden, which provides a clear vision of life cycle resources, emissions and wastes to be identified
what will be the impact of environmental performance and quantified, and this includes data collection,
(Duanet al, 2018: 9). calculation, standardization and verification. As the
The life cycle assessment also provides a reliability and accuracy of inventory data is directly
comprehensive approach to fully assess the environmental related to the accuracy of the results of the third-stage
impacts of the production process, thus it helps to provide analysis, it is necessary to collect, standardize and modify
extensive data on the environmental and economic relevant data several times to meet the system reliability
impacts in relation to resource and energy depletion, requirements.
water use, toxic substances and greenhouse gas emissions,
allowing for sound decision-making. These adverse

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Stage 3: Life Cycle Impact Assessment 3. Description for calculating the values of the
This stage aims to analyze life-cycle energy consumption, category indicators.
greenhouse gas emissions, water consumption and Stage 4: Life Cycle Interpretation
calculate potential impacts on the environment, including: During this stage, the results of the life cycle analysis are
1. Choosing impact categories, indicators and interpreted, to provide many useful conclusions and to
characterization models. draw a series of recommendations according to the aim
2. Classification to link impact categories and and scope of the study, and to define improvement
inventory data. strategies through evaluating the results, Figure (2) shows
the stages of product life cycle assessment.
Figure (1)
Stages of product life cycle assessment

Definition of goal
and scope

Inventory analysis
Results interpretation

Impact assessment

Source: Suhariyanto et al.,(2018), " Product Design Evaluation Using Life Cycle
Assessment and Design for Assembly: A Case Study of a Water Leakage Alarm", p8.

The two researchers believe that the product life cycle THIRD SECTION: PRODUCT SUSTAINABILITY
assessment technique is one of the techniques of AND THE ROLE OF PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE
environmental management accounting, which studies the ASSESSMENT TECHNOLOGY IN ACHIEVING IT
environmental effects of the product or activity
throughout its entire life cycle, from the acquisition of First: Products Sustainability
raw materials to their disposal and it is called life cycle A sustainable product is a product that does not have
analysis, as the materials used and the disposal of energy significant negative impacts on environmental and social
and waste are identified and measured and their impacts systems, and this includes not only the use phase, but also
on the environment are assessed, as well as assessing the effects of raw materials, the production chain, the
improvement opportunities, which in turn provide supply chain, the use phase, and finally the end of the
opportunities to reduce environmental pollution, better shelf life, as the development of sustainable products
use of resources and energy, which contribute to requires consideration of the entire product life cycle. The
improving quality, reducing costs, and improving sustainable product is often evaluated in terms of
environmental and economic performance. greenhouse gas emissions, energy efficiency, or
environmental pollution (Kammerl et al, 2017: 25-26),
and product sustainability (PS) examines how the
products can provide economic benefits for units at the
same time they provide environmental and social benefits
to society in general (Dyllick & Rost, 2017: 347).
The stages of the sustainable product life cycle include
design, production, marketing, distribution, use and
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disposal, and the following are an illustration of these 4. Product use

stages: It is related to the period of time in which the product is
1. Sustainable product design used by the customer, as during this stage he may
Manufactured products affect all aspects of sustainability consume auxiliary products such as energy, and therefore
(economy, environment and society) throughout their life the traditional requirements are energy efficiency, safety,
cycle, such as using materials, manufacturing, marketing, reliability, ease of operation, maintenance or repair, and
use and disposal. It has been found that about 80% of the the interaction of the product with the user and consumer
sustainability impacts are identified in the design stage, behavior strongly affects the sustainable performance of
and therefore this stage is considered an important the product in its use phase (Schwarz, 2017: 18).
strategy to achieve product sustainability that is defined as 5. Sustainable Disposal
the product's ability to operate continuously while It includes reuse, recycling and final disposal, as reuse
ensuring the lowest level of environmental impacts and refers to the use of various means to extend the practical
providing economic and social benefits to stakeholders, service life of products by transferring them to new
the three aspects of sustainability should be considered an owners with or without prior modification (such as
integral part of sustainable design (Ahmad et al, 2018: repair), and this is done for example through the second-
49). The product life cycle, as an analytical tool for hand market, as re-use and recycling reduce
assessing design alternatives, the performance of environmental impacts compared to burning and
environmental innovations and tracking design processes landfilling of waste. Reuse is more beneficial than
(Gutierrez et al, 2019: 2). recycling (Sandin & Peters, 2018: 3), while recycling is a
2. Sustainable Manufacturing procedure for converting waste materials into useful
Manufacturing is indispensable in modern society things again, i.e. producing new products from old
because of its vital role in terms of community service, materials. Recycling is considered an environmentally
and the pivotal role in contributing to the national and friendly solution instead of disposing of waste, and things
global economy, yet at the same time the systems of may be used for the same purpose without recycling that
human activity together consume a large amount of usually requires energy consumption, such as selling
resources and generate waste and emissions, which affects mineral water again using the same bottles (Toth, 2019:
the environment and society. As the current production 3), and LCA can be used to analyze recycling process,
and consumption patterns are seen to be largely which leads to the goal of reducing costs, increasing
responsible for the shortage of resources and the efficiency and enhancing sustainability (Huang et al,
degradation in the environment, and as a result, 2019: 23).
industrialization is developing within the framework of
the requirements of the three aspects of sustainability Second: Role of Environmental Management
(environment, economy and society) (Hussain & Accounting in Product Sustainability
Jahanzaib, 2018: 237). The product life cycle assessment There are some motives for integrating sustainability into
technique has been successfully applied in several environmental management accounting practices,
industrial economic units to optimize manufacturing including cost reduction and risk management, as
processes (Behnami et al, 2019: 4). resource efficiency and cost saving opportunities can be
3. Sustainable Marketing identified by collecting information on related
In the literature, concepts such as environmental environmental and social expenditures, and linking them
marketing, green marketing and sustainable marketing are to financial benefits and environmental and social
used synonymously, which has been defined as all studies performance, such as use controlling use and energy costs
related to the positive or negative effects of marketing across the economic unit which is the first step towards
activities on environmental pollution, energy consumption reducing and improving efficiency, and therefore
and other resources or as marketing activities that attempt management accounting can provide a useful internal
to reduce the environmental and social impacts of existing reporting tool to track progress and show how
products and production systems. It includes the environmental and social external costs decline over time
promotion of less harmful goods to meet the needs of with a commitment to sustainability, because the leading
society and consumers (Kibrit, 2019:9), as it is defined as units now realize that their long-term future is closely
the process of management responsible for identifying, related to their environmental performance. On the other
anticipating and meeting the requirements of customers hand, there is increasing pressure to manage and report
and society in a profitable and sustainable manner (Goyal non-financial risks. Therefore, a risk management and
et al, 2018: 62). reduction strategy can benefit from identifying social and
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environmental risks associated with current financial 2. The use of product life cycle assessment
performance (by using external costs as indicators of technology contributes to reducing waste and
risk). Without adequate and appropriate systems to define emissions, rates of environmental pollution, and
such Costs are calculated, the units may not able to meet moving towards optimal utilization of available
the future expectations of stakeholders. The literature energy and resources, thus reducing product
discussing the relationship between economic and costs and improving their quality.
environmental performance and environmental efficiency 3. The sustainability of products requires the
shows that in order to improve environmental development of mechanisms that ensure the
performance while enjoying economic benefits, economic reduction of environmental impacts, taking into
units need to be innovative and sensitive to the account the economic and social aspects, in all
environment, and to be able to integrate information. stages of their life cycle, from planning and
Environmental management in its business strategies, so it design to disposal, reuse or recycling.
needs an appropriate information system to provide such 4. The disposal of products at the end of their
information for administrative decision-making, and for productive life through recycling and reuse
this, environmental management accounting can play an contributes to reducing environmental impacts
important role in any economic unit by integrating all and improving economic performance, but for
basic functions and providing relevant information for the sake of re-use and recycling, it should be
decision-making (Agada, 2018: 71-72). taken into consideration in the design stage and
Muza (2018) believes that environmental management the requirements for efficient and effective
accounting (EMA) generally contributes to enhancing construction and development of ideas.
sustainability, by implementing environmental 5. Separating the environmental costs through the
management accounting techniques, including product use of the product life cycle assessment
life-cycle assessment, which is a strong indicator for technique helps the management in dealing with
achieving product sustainability, as the great attention to the high costs and provides the necessary
environmental considerations improves environmental information to reduce the rates of environmental
efficiency, As well as the economic and social pollution and waste, which contributes to
performance (Muza, 2018: 241). achieving the sustainability of the product.
Therefore, the use of environmental management Second: Recommendations: In light of the conclusions,
accounting techniques such as assessing the product life the researcher recommends the following:
cycle contributes to providing material and monetary 1. The government's claim to the economic units of
information, which helps in reducing the rates of the necessity to provide environmental accounts
environmental pollution and preserving resources, parallel to the financial accounts, which requires
through the sustainable use of water, energy and rebuilding the accounting systems to take into
materials, and reducing the environmental impacts of account environmental and social issues.
products during the entire life cycle, thus reducing costs 2. Preparing accounting cadres by involving them
to achieve product sustainability, and this proves the in training courses on how to use the technique
research hypothesis (Cost measurement based on the of evaluating the product life cycle, and how to
product life cycle assessment technique helps to provide material and monetary information to
achieve product sustainability). management to enable it to perform its multiple
functions.
3. The government should encourage economic
FOURTH SECTION: CONCLUSIONS AND units in their endeavor to reduce environmental
RECOMMENDATIONS impacts and optimal utilization of available
energy and resources, by providing subsidies and
First: Conclusions: The research concluded with a set of tax exemptions.
conclusions, namely: 4. The necessity of working to increase awareness
1. There is a lack of knowledge of accountants on of environmental and social issues by raising
how to define and allocate environmental costs issues related to the environment in periodicals,
and revenues, just as some environmental costs television and conferences, which constitutes a
are not recorded in the records and fundamental pressure on managing economic
environmental issues are not integrated into units to improve their environmental
existing accounting systems and practices. performance.
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