It can be said that today’s corporate environment is characterized by the rate of change and diversity of quality when compared to that of the past. Under such circumstances, it is difficult to demonstrate the original significance of the concept of goal congruence (Simons 1995), which is the basis of the management accounting system, without expanding it. Therefore I present the new concept of “Environmental Goal Congruence”. This concept is the basis of Environmental Management Accounting research and practices.
By analyzing the practice of Kirin Holdings Company, LTD and modern environment characteristics, I find the need of "expansion and deepening" goal congruence concept so far. And I define this new concept as “tendency to penetrate the logic, norms, and culture of sustainability (of systems on earth, including corporate entities) into the mindset of individuals working at the organization and encourage each member to independently act toward the objective and purpose of the higher system.”. In proposing this concept, it also contribute to corporate sustenance and existence (Mizoguchi 1987) , which is the essential aim of management accounting.
In short, it was argued that the essence of environmental goal congruence is the integration of “total optimization” and “partial optimization” (Drucker 1954) in the following three dimensions: (1) from global environmental systems (social systems, economic systems) to corporate systems, (2) from management purpose (long and medium-term management plans) to short-term management plans (performance evaluation systems), and (3) from top management within the company to member mindset structures.
