Green accounting for a sustainable future

Environmental problems have also emerged and increased in the process as a result of reasons such as technological developments reaching a dizzying speed after the Industrial Revolution, the rapid increase in the world population, and the direction of societies towards excessive consumption. The resulting ecological problems negatively affect living life and our economic systems. Some administrative and legal regulations have been made as a precaution against this global problem, and in parallel with this, conscious people's expectations from governments and businesses have naturally changed. In this process of change, governments are responsible for developing environmentally friendly policies and monitoring compliance with these policies in line with their regulatory and supervision functions. Businesses that cannot adapt to change and government policies may face financial sanctions such as a decrease in market shares and additional taxes in the long term. On the other hand, considering the impact of increasing competitive conditions, the application of "sustainability" principles will lead to positive results for the interests of businesses. As a result, the importance that businesses attach to the concepts of "sustainability" and "green economy" is constantly increasing. To eliminate the problems caused by environmental systems, businesses are held responsible for their activities throughout the entire production process and the recycling of the product after the end of its life. The concept of "green accounting" is being developed as an alternative to traditional accounting to ensure that expenses, investments, and sometimes penalties in all these processes can be tracked as a separate item, and the product cost can be calculated and reported financially more comprehensively. In this study, the concept of "green" in terms of accounting, which is an integral part of the business, was examined and the survey study was done to determine the knowledge and perception levels of accounting students on the subject.