Using Input-output Analysis to Develop ‘triple Bottom Line Accounts’ for the Australian Economy

Triple Bottom Line accounting is widely advanced as a way in which firms can realise broader societal objectives in addition to increasing shareholder value. In our analysis of the Australian economy, we integrate financial input-output tables that describe the inter-dependencies between economic sectors, with national social and environmental accounts to construct numerate 'triple bottom line' accounts for 135 discrete sectors. The accounts are portrayed against the numeraire of 'one dollar of final demand'. Thus for a sector of the economy, financial aspects of performance can be expressed for example as dollars of export earnings per dollar of final demand. Social aspects such as employment can be portrayed as minutes of employment generated per dollar. Greenhouse issues can be portrayed as kilograms of carbon dioxide emitted per dollar. Since these indicators of 'triple bottom line' performance are referenced against financial units and are consistent with the System of National Accounts, they can be applied to financial accounts of a firm, a service or a product, and allow a robust triple bottom line account to be developed across a range of scales. In this study we use the approach to compare eight aggregated sectors of the Australian economy eg agriculture, food manufacture, mining, non-food manufacturing, construction, transport and communications, privates services and public services. The analysis highlights triple bottom line issues for each of these aggregated sectors, many of which do not have feasible solutions under the conditions of incremental and marginal change that characterise modern economic systems. Finally this analytical approach is seen as only a first step. To be fully effective, there are at least five technical developments required to complement the current analytical status.