Research Journal of Finance and Accounting www.iiste.org ISSN 2222-1697 (Paper) ISSN 2222-2847 (Online) Vol.4, No.11, 2013 91 Environmental Auditing and Sustainable Development in Nigeria Dr. Enofe Augustine, Dr. Mgbame Chijioke, Obazee Uyioghosa, * Edeoghon Otivbo Department of Accounting, Faculty of Management Sciences, University of Benin. Email of corresponding author: uyioghosaobazee@gmail.com ABSTRACT This study seeks to examine the issues of environmental auditing on sustainable development. The quest for industrialization and sustained development in Nigeria and the attendant improvement in the quality of life of the populace has taken its toll on the environment. The domineering influence of economic sophistication on every aspect of living had negative climatic impacts which sustainability sets out to correct. As sustainability pursues equitable distribution of opportunities between present and future generations through conservative use of resources, economic development promotes uncontrolled consumption of resources to increase material wealth. Primary data was collected with the use of questionnaire and the data were analyzed using descriptive statistics method, correlation matrix and binary logit. The study hypothesis was also validated. It was revealed that this result is quite distorting, which implies that the more environmental audit carried out the less the effect on sustainable development, environmental engagement and impact assessment. Thus it was concluded that while companies subscribe to the policy of being environmentally friendly, only few engage environmental audit services. This might be a fall out from the voluntary nature of environmental audit. KEYWORDS: Environmental Audit, Sustainable Development and Environmental Impact Assessment. 1.0 Introduction The quest for industrialization and sustainable development in Nigeria and the attendant improvement in the quality of life of the populace has taken its toll on the environment (Aina,1998). The effects of different industrial sector activity on the environment vary enormously but it is an incontrovertible statement that damage is being done to the environment worldwide. Environmental concerns rarely formed an integral part of development plans, particularly in the Third world countries like Nigeria. The major objective of a company is not only increasing the company’s profit but its multidimensional: economic, social and environmental (Caraiani, Lungu, Dascălu, Colceag & Guşe, 2010). Supported activities for sustainable development worldwide have increased company’s confidence in auditing systems of environmental impact and environmental performance to gain a competitive advantage in strategic positioning. An organization’s ability to achieve environmental objectives depends heavily on monitoring the continuous improvement of environmental performance through efficient planning of organizational, economic investments and necessary technological measures. The realization that sustainable development can only be achieved through interdependence between economic growth and environmental quality has compelled some governments to now regard the environment as a valued and an integral part of economic growth. Consequently, environmental issues are now at the vanguard of international and domestic as well as local governments’ agenda. However, environmental policies are rarely enforced in some third world countries. The inability of government to implement stringent environmental regulations is compounded by the fact that the goals of most corporate organizations are purely economic. Little attention is devoted to their social responsibilities. How organizations achieve their goals are issues of great social importance, but organisations are more concerned about the elements in their environment that are necessary to their success and less about the social and ethical implications of their actions (Koontz & Weihrich, 1988). There is now a growing interest on environmental issues, but organizational researchers and scholars rarely discuss environmental issues and sustainable development. Issues of discourse have always been ethics, organizational structures and processes, the impact of the environment on organization, etc. Thus, there is a dearth of literature on the impact of corporate activities on the environment. Environmental auditing is not a particularly new discipline; however its popularity as a means of assessing environmental performance has recently increased dramatically (Welford, 2002). The first compliance audits can be traced back to the United States. Corporations adopted this methodology during the early 1970s in response to their domestic liability laws. The importance of environmental audits has gained momentum greatly during the last few years, with the launch of Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) in 1993 and the publication of ISO 14001 in 1996. More and more companies are finding it valuable to audit their environmental impacts (Welford, 2002).