Bridging the Sustainability Gap in Accounting Education: The Case of Albania

Abstract

Environmental Management Accounting (EMA) represents a critical competency gap in modern accounting education, particularly in developing economies transitioning toward European standards. While EMA offers a comprehensive approach enabling organizations to incorporate environmental considerations into management practices, traditional accounting curricula often fail to prepare graduates for this complexity. Full cost accounting goes beyond financial accounting by taking into account direct and indirect environmental costs, yet this is rarely emphasized in standard university syllabi. Integrating procedures and principles of accounting for environmental management allows organizations to effectively integrate environmental considerations into their decision-making processes; however, without educational intervention, this integration remains theoretical. This study investigates the educational and professional development landscape in Albania, arguing that the successful adoption of EMA relies heavily on "normative pressure" generated by higher education institutions and professional training bodies. By analyzing data from key industrial sectors (steel, oil, mining), the paper identifies a profound "skills gap" where domestic professionals lack the training to track environmental costs, unlike their counterparts in international firms. The study proposes a comprehensive curricular framework for integrating EMA into accounting education, suggesting that universities must redesign syllabi to include physical material flow accounting, monetary environmental accounting, and life-cycle costing. The findings suggest that higher education institutions and professional associations must act as the primary drivers of sustainable corporate behavior by institutionalizing environmental accounting literacy.