Hines’ On Valuing Nature

Summary
The Rubber Tree in Hines’ garden kindles his concern about the impersonal side of accounting for nature. Accounting quantifies. It puts mere monetary values on the environment. Hines explains why he keeps the Rubber Tree as a friend and analyzes the trade-off between personal interests in nature’s beauty and the commercial interests of sacrificing the environment in the name of accounting.

Q1
The main message of the article by Hines ‘on valuing nature’ is that nature is not like a financial commodity which can be valued in dollars and cents. To reduce the environment to a number or a money equivalent is likely to lead to severe consequences. In fact, the “profit” coming out of nature probably is much more prominent than the numbers in accounting reports. Thus, the destruction of the natural environment in the name of accounting should be eschewed.

Q2
In my view, Hines’ article contributes another perspective of accounting for us to think about. Generally, accounting is the process of measuring, recording and communicating the economics transactions and events of business operation. However, to provide more reliable and more relevant financial information for decision making, we must find out the hidden information behind the numbers or the genuine value of accounting events. We may not jump to any conclusion merely based on financial gain or loss, but should pay more attention to other invisible elements such as environmental benefits and social efficiency. In other words, accountancy should be bound by social contract as well.