Method and system for calculating an environmental score for a business unit

• US 20050021389A1
• Filed: 05/28/2004
• Published: 01/27/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 11/29/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: S&P Trucost Ltd. (S&P Global Inc.)
• Original Assignee: S&P Trucost Ltd. (S&P Global Inc.)
• Inventors: Thomas, Simon, Manji, Rafiq, Jacobs, Andrew, Dias, Daniel Lopez
• Granted Patent: US 7,797,183 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/10
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06393 Score-carding, benchmarking or key performance indicator [KPI] analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting

Abstract

A method and system for calculating an environmental score are described and generally related to calculating a score for a separately accountable business unit, where the score is indicative of external costs for the business unit. A computer system for calculating a score for a separately accountable business unit, the score being indicative of a level of unaccounted for external environmental cost of economic activities of the separately accountable business unit, the system includes accessing means for accessing accounts data indicative of recognized costs for the separately accountable business unit, accounts processing means for processing the accounts data by adding external environmental costs to the recognized costs and for calculating the score for the separately accountable business unit using the processed accounts data.

Claims

1. A computer system for calculating a score for a separately accountable business unit, the score being indicative of a level of unaccounted for external environmental cost of economic activities of the separately accountable business unit, the system comprising:

accessing device for accessing accounts data indicative of recognised costs for the separately accountable business unit; and

an accounts processor configured for processing the accounts data by adding external environmental costs to the recognised costs, and configured for calculating the score for the separately accountable business unit using the processed accounts data.

2. A computer system according to claim 1, wherein said accounts processor is adapted to process the accounts data and calculate the score by taking the ratio of the recognised costs to total costs comprising recognised costs plus external environmental costs.

3. A computer system according to claim 1, wherein said accessing device is adapted to access accounts data indicative of recognised costs and profit or loss for the separately accountable business unit, and said accounts processor is adapted to process the accounts data also using the profit or loss.

4. A computer system according to claim 1, wherein said accounts processor is adapted to process the accounts data by allocating common price units to all the inputs to and outputs from the economic activities of the separately accountable business unit.

5. A computer system according to claim 1, including supplier score accessing device configured for accessing scores indicative of environmental impact for suppliers of goods and/or services to the separately accountable business unit, and said accounts processor is adapted to process the accounts data using scores accessed for the suppliers.

6. A computer system according to claim 5, wherein said accounts processor is adapted to process the accounts data to identify and weight costs associated with suppliers using the scores for the suppliers.

7. A computer system according to claim 5, wherein said accessing device includes supplier accounts data acquisition means for acquiring suppliers accounts data, and supplier score determining means for determining the scores for the suppliers using the accounts data.

8. A computer system according to claim 7, wherein said supplier score determining means is adapted to determine the scores for the suppliers using the accounts data and environmental information.

9. A computer system according to claim 7, wherein said accessing device is adapted to assign a precautionary score to a supplier if suppliers accounts data is not available, where said precautionary score indicates a high level of unaccounted for external environmental cost.

10. A computer system according to claim 8, wherein said accessing device is adapted to assign a precautionary score to a supplier if environmental information for the supplier is not available, where said precautionary score indicates a high level of unaccounted for external environmental cost.

11. A computer system according to claim 5, including a data storage for storing the scores indicative of environmental impact for suppliers of goods and/or services to the separately accountable business unit, said accessing device being adapted to access the stored scores.

12. A computer system according to claim 1, wherein said accounts processor means is adapted to calculate the score to vary between a first value indicating the business unit has internalised all external environmental costs associated with its economic activity and a second value indicating that the business unit has large external environmental costs associated with its economic activity.

13. A computer system according to claim 2, wherein said accounts processor is adapted to calculate the score as a percentage between 100% indicating the business unit has internalised all environmental costs associated with its economic activity and close to 0% indicating that the business unit has large external environmental costs associated with its economic activity.

14. A computer system according to claim 1, wherein said separately accountable business unit comprises:

a business including a partnership, person, charity, or company,

department or division of a business,

a service or product,

or group of services or products.

15. A computer system according to claim 1, including external environmental cost determining device for determining the external environmental costs for the separately accountable business unit as a function of economic inputs and economic outputs for the separately accountable business unit.

16. A computer system according to claim 15, wherein said external environmental costs determining device is adapted to determine external environmental costs for the economic inputs as a function of the recognised costs for the economic inputs and external environmental costs for the economic outputs as a function of the recognised costs for the economic outputs.

17. A computer system according to claim 16, wherein said external environmental cost determining device is adapted to determine said external environmental costs for the economic inputs as by weighting the recognised costs for the economic inputs by an environmental input cost weight and said environmental costs for the economic outputs by weighting the recognised costs for the economic output by an environmental output cost weight.

18. A computer system according to claim 1, including network interface for interfacing to a network to allow access to the calculated score from a remote computer.

19. A computer system according to claim 18, wherein said network interface is adapted to receive the accounts data for the business unit, and said accessing device is adapted to access the received accounts data.

20. A method of calculating a score for a separately accountable business unit, the score being indicative of a level of unaccounted for external environmental cost of economic activities of the separately accountable business unit, the method comprising:

accessing accounts data indicative of recognised costs for the separately accountable business unit; and

processing the accounts data by adding external environmental costs to the recognised costs, and for calculating the score for the separately accountable business unit using the processed accounts data.

21. A method according to claim 20, wherein the score is calculated by taking the ratio of the recognised costs to total costs comprising recognised costs plus external environmental costs.

22. A method according to claim 20, wherein said accounts data is indicative of recognised costs and profit or loss for the separately accountable business unit, and said accounts data is processed also using the profit or loss.

23. A computer system according to claim 20, wherein said accounts data is processed by allocating common price units to all the inputs to and outputs from the economic activities of the separately accountable business unit.

24. A method according to claim 20, including accessing scores indicative of environmental impact for suppliers of goods and/or services to the separately accountable business unit, wherein the accounts data is processed using scores accessed for the suppliers.

25. A method according to claim 24, wherein said accounts data is processed to identify and weight costs associated with suppliers using the scores for the suppliers.

26. A method according to claim 24, including acquiring suppliers accounts data, and determining the scores for the suppliers using the accounts data.

27. A method according to claim 26, wherein said scores for the suppliers are determined using the accounts data and environmental information.

28. A method according to claim 26, wherein a precautionary score is assigned to a supplier if suppliers accounts data is not available, where said precautionary score indicates a high level of unaccounted for external environmental cost.

29. A method according to claim 27, wherein a precautionary score is assigned to a supplier if environmental information for the supplier is not available, where said precautionary score indicates a high level of unaccounted for external environmental cost.

30. A method according to claim 24, including storing the scores indicative of environmental impact for suppliers of goods and/or services to the separately accountable business unit.

31. A method according to claim 20, wherein said score is calculated to vary between a first value indicating the business unit has internalised all external environmental costs associated with its economic activity and a second value indicating that the business unit has large external environmental costs associated with its economic activity.

32. A method according to claim 21, wherein said score is calculated as a percentage between 100% indicating the business unit has intemalised all external environmental costs associated with its economic activity and close to 0% indicating that the business unit has large external environmental costs associated with its economic activity.

33. A method according to claim 20 wherein said separately accountable business unit comprises:

a business including a partnership, person, charity, or company,

department or division of a business,

a service or product, or

a group of services or products.

34. A method according to claim 20, including determining the external environmental costs for the separately accountable business unit as a function of economic inputs and economic outputs for the separately accountable business unit.

35. A method according to claim 34, wherein external environmental costs for the economic inputs are determined as a function of the recognised costs for the economic inputs and external environmental costs for the economic outputs are determined as a function of the recognised costs for the economic output.

36. A method according to claim 35, wherein said environmental costs for the economic inputs are determined by weighting the recognised costs for the economic inputs by an environmental input cost weight and said external environmental costs for the economic outputs are determined by weighting the recognised costs for the economic output by an environmental output cost weight.

37. A method according to claim 20 including allowing access to the calculated score from a remote computer.

38. A method according to claim 37, including receiving the accounts data for the business unit from a remote computer.

39. A processing system comprising:

a program memory storing processor readable instructions;

a processor for reading and implementing the instructions in said program memory;

wherein said instructions comprise instructions for controlling said processor in a processing system to carry out the method of claim 20

40. A carrier medium carrying processor implementable instructions for controlling a processor in a processing system to carry out the method of claim 20

49. A method of managing a separately accountable business unit, the method comprising comparing a score determined using the method of claim 20 for the separately accountable business unit for a period of time with another said score determined using the method of claim 20 for another separately accountable business unit for the same period of time or for said separately accountable business unit for another period of time, and managing the separately accountable business unit in accordance with the result of the comparison

50. A fund management method comprising comparing scores determined using the method of claim 20 or claim 41 for a plurality of companies, and managing funds using the result of the comparison.

41. A method of calculating a score for a separately accountable business unit, the score being indicative of a level of unaccounted for external environmental cost of economic activities of the separately accountable business unit, the method comprising:

using accounts identifying recognised costs for the separately accountable business unit, incorporating external environmental costs, and calculating the score for the separately accountable business unit by taking the ratio of the recognised costs to total costs, where the total costs comprise the recognised costs plus the external environmental costs.

42. A method according to claim 41, wherein the accounts include profit or loss for the separately accountable business unit, and the recognised costs used in the calculation of the ratio include the profit or loss.

43. A method according to claim 41, wherein said score is calculated to vary between a first value indicating the business unit has internalised all external environmental costs associated with its economic activity and a second value indicating that the business unit has large external environmental costs associated with its economic activity.

44. A method according to claim 43, wherein said score is calculated as a percentage between 100% indicating the business unit has internalised all external environmental costs associated with its economic activity and close to 0% indicating that the business unit has large external environmental costs associated with its economic activity.

45. A method according to claim 41, wherein said separately accountable business unit comprises:

a business including a partnership, person, charity, or company,

department or division of a business

a service or product, or

a group of services or products.

46. A method according to claim 41, including determining the external environmental costs for the separately accountable business unit as a function of economic inputs and economic outputs for the separately accountable business unit.

47. A method according to claim 46, wherein external environmental costs for the economic inputs are determined as a function of the recognised costs for the economic inputs and external environmental costs for the economic outputs are determined as a function of the recognised costs for the economic output.

48. A method according to claim 47, wherein said external environmental costs for the economic inputs are determined by weighting the recognised costs for the economic inputs by an environmental input cost weight and said external environmental costs for the economic outputs are determined by weighting the recognised costs for the economic output by an environmental output cost weight.

51. A processing system for calculating a score for a separately accountable business unit, the score being indicative of a level of unaccounted for external environmental cost of economic activities of the separately accountable business unit, the system comprising:

a storage for storing accounts data and scores for suppliers, the scores being indicative of a level of unaccounted for external environmental cost of economic activities of the suppliers;

receiver for receiving accounts data indicative of recognised costs for the separately accountable business unit and data identifying suppliers of products or services to the separately accountable business unit;

score determining device for using the received data identifying suppliers to determine if there are scores stored in said storage means for the identified suppliers;

communication device for communicating over a communications network with a computer storing public accounts data for the suppliers to retrieve public accounts data for any suppliers determined by said determining device not to have a score stored in said storage;

suppliers score calculator for calculating scores for suppliers using the retrieved public accounts data; and

score calculating device for calculating a score for the separately accountable business unit using the received accounts data for the separately accountable business unit and the scores for the suppliers of the separately accountable business unit determined by said score determining device or calculated by said supplier score calculator.

52. A processing system according to claim 51, wherein said suppliers score calculator is adapted to calculate scores for the suppliers using recognised costs in said publics accounts data and external environmental costs for the respective suppliers, and said score calculating device is adapted to calculate the score for the separately accountable business unit using recognised costs in said received accounts data and external environmental costs for the separately accountable business unit.

53. A processing system according to claim 52, wherein said score calculating device is adapted to calculate the score as the ratio of recognised costs to the total costs, where the total costs comprise the sum of the recognised costs and the external environmental costs.

54. A processing system according to claim 52, wherein said score calculating device is adapted to calculate the score by factoring the suppliers score in the external environmental costs.

55. A processing system according to claim 52, wherein said supplier score calculator is adapted to calculate the scores as the ratio of recognised costs to the total costs, where the total costs comprise the sum of the recognised costs and the external environmental costs.

56. A processing method for calculating a score for a separately accountable business unit, the score being indicative of a level of unaccounted for external environmental cost of economic activities of the separately accountable business unit, the method comprising:

storing accounts data and scores for suppliers, the scores being indicative of a level of unaccounted for external environmental cost of economic activities of the suppliers;

receiving accounts data indicative of recognised costs for the separately accountable business unit and data identifying suppliers of products or services to the separately accountable business unit;

using the received data identifying suppliers to determine if there are scores stored in said storage means for the identified suppliers;

communicating over a communications network with a computer storing public accounts data for the suppliers to retrieve public accounts data for any suppliers determined by said determining means not to have a score stored in said storage means;

calculating scores for suppliers using the retrieved public accounts data; and

calculating a score for the separately accountable business unit using the received accounts data for the separately accountable business unit and the scores for the suppliers of the separately accountable business unit determined by said score determining means or calculated by said supplier score calculating means.

57. A method according to claim 56, wherein said scores for the suppliers are calculated using recognised costs in said public accounts data and external environmental costs for the respective suppliers, and said score for the separately accountable business unit is calculates using recognised costs in said received accounts data and external environmental costs for the separately accountable business unit.

58. A method according to claim 57, wherein said score for the separately accountable business unit is calculated as the ratio of recognised costs to the total costs, where the total costs comprise the sum of the recognised costs and the external environmental costs.

59. A method according to claim 57, wherein said score for the separately accountable business unit is calculated by factoring the suppliers scores in the external environmental costs.

60. A method according to claim 57, wherein said scores for the suppliers are calculated as the ratio of recognised costs to the total costs, where the total costs comprise the sum of the recognised costs and the external environmental costs.

61. A processing system comprising:

a program memory storing processor readable instructions;

a processor for reading and implementing the instructions in said program memory;

wherein said instructions comprise instructions for controlling said processor in a processing system to carry out the method of claim 56.

62. A carrier medium carrying processor implementable instructions for controlling a processor in a processing system to carry out the method of claim 56.

63. A method of managing a separately accountable business unit, the method comprising comparing a score determined using the method of claim 56 for the separately accountable business unit for a period of time with another said score determined using the method of claim 56 for another separately accountable business unit for the same period of time or for said separately accountable business unit for another period of time, and managing the separately accountable business unit in accordance with the result of the comparison.

64. A fund management method comprising comparing scores determined using the method of claim 56 for a plurality of companies, and managing funds using the result of the comparison.