[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 147 (Tuesday, August 2, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-18753]


[[Page Unknown]]

[Federal Register: August 2, 1994]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[5026-3]

 

Agency Information Collection Activities Under OMB Review

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 
et seq.), this notice announces that the Information Collection Request 
(ICR) abstracted below has been forwarded to the Office of Management 
and Budget (OMB) for review and comment. The ICR describes the nature 
of the information collection and its expected cost and burden; where 
appropriate, it includes the actual data collection instrument.

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before September 1, 1994.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
For further information, or to obtain a copy of this ICR, contact Sandy 
Farmer at EPA, (202) 260-2740.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics

    Title: National Survey of Management Accounting Professionals (EPA 
ICR # 1705.01). This ICR requests approval of a new information 
collection activity.
    Abstract: EPA's Design for the Environment (DfE) Program encourages 
industry to identify and adopt product and process designs and 
production operations that pose the least possible risk to the 
environment. A part of these efforts is to determine whether and how 
the true costs of environmental protection and pollution prevention are 
factored into industry's corporate cost accounting and capital 
budgeting activities, and to encourage the consideration of such costs 
when and if they are not currently reflected in corporate financial 
calculations.
    The information collected in this ICR will assist DfE's Accounting 
and Capital Budgeting Program to baseline typical and best accounting 
and budgeting practices among management accountants, measure the 
effectiveness of its various program elements, and set priorities for 
future DfE initiatives aimed at the professional accounting community. 
The information collection will describe the practices and perspectives 
of management accountants in U.S. manufacturing firms concerning 
pollution prevention project investments.
    The survey contains five sections: Section 1 requests background 
information on the respondent and his/her firm; Section 2 looks at the 
firm's capital budgeting process, focusing on how, when, and by whom 
requests for capital appropriations for environmental projects are 
developed and approved; Section 3 asks for information on cost 
inventory to identify the scope of direct and indirect costs typically 
included in project financial analysis, and whether such costs are 
assessed quantitatively or qualitatively; Section 4 requests 
information on approaches to cost allocation--if and how costs are 
assigned to specific processes and/or products, versus lumped into 
overhead accounts; finally, Section 5 examines the firm's choice of 
financial indicators and time horizons for project profitability 
analysis.
    The raw data will be analyzed for statistical purposes only, and 
will be presented in summary form without identifying individual 
respondents. OPPT, in cooperation with the Institute for Management 
Accountants, a professional society that is cooperating in the project, 
will determine the use and disposition of the final report.
    Burden Statement: The estimated public reporting burden for this 
collection of information is estimated to require 1 hour per 
respondent. This estimate includes time to review the instructions, 
gather existing information, and prepare and submit the survey form. 
There are no recordkeeping requirements.
    Respondents: A subset of the Institute for Management Accountants 
membership who identify their job function as either budgeting/planning 
or cost accounting, and who are associated with manufacturing firms 
included in SIC codes 20--39.

Estimated Number of Respondents: 900.
Estimated Number of Responses Per Respondent: 1.
Frequency of Collection: One time survey response.
Estimated Total Annual Burden on Respondents: 900 hours.

    Send comments regarding the burden estimate, or any other aspect of 
this information collection, including suggestions for reducing the 
burden, to:

Sandy Farmer, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Information Policy 
Branch (2136), 401 M Street SW., Washington, DC 20460
Matt Mitchell, Office of Management and Budget, Office of Information 
and Regulatory Affairs, 725 17th Street NW., Washington, DC 20530.

    Dated: July 28, 1994.
Jane Stewart,
Acting Director.
[FR Doc. 94-18753 Filed 8-1-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-M