AN East Anglian business software house has launched an addition to its popular accounting software package that enables organisations to measure their carbon footprint.

AN East Anglian business software house has launched an addition to its popular accounting software package that enables organisations to measure their carbon footprint.

Access Accounting, based in Stratford St Mary, between Ipswich and Colchester, unveiled the innovative functionality at the Softworld Exhibition in London last week where it was endorsed by Tim Yeo, MP for Suffolk South and chairman of the Commons Environmental Audit Committee.

By integrating figures from DEFRA and the Carbon Trust into the technology, the award-winning Access Dimensions software enables organisations to account for their carbon emissions as part of normal day-to-day operations. The figures are as easy to access as financial reports, according to the company.

John Beech, managing director at Access Accounting, said: “There is a growing financial and moral imperative to reduce carbon emissions. Increasingly, taxes are being levied on high carbon emitting business activities, so the ability to manage them down makes financial sense. There are softer benefits to reducing carbon emissions too - companies are more attractive to their multi-national customers, employers and the communities in which they operate.

“The challenge has always been where to start. The answer is measurement; after all you can't manage what you can't measure.”

The new functionality for measuring carbon emissions is offered within the latest version of the Access Dimensions software at no extra charge. It is part of Access Accounting's ongoing strategy to help reduce business complexity by continuing to produce more and more solution-led services.

“When we looked at the means by which customers could easily and cost effectively measure carbon emissions, it was clear there was a lack of practical tools out there,” said Mr Beech.

“It soon became apparent that the existing infrastructure of Access Dimensions offered a perfect solution as it already held most of the data necessary to calculate the carbon footprint.

“All that was needed was for our development teams to incorporate the DEFRA and Carbon Trust figures to close the loop on measurement. As with all great ideas, it sounds far simpler than it was.”

Introducing the launch for Access Accounting at the Softworld Exhibition, Mr Yeo said: “Business is really rising to the challenge of climate change. In the US, business is already well ahead of politicians on tackling the issue.

“In the UK, companies are keen to respond to the growing demand from both customers and employees but what has been lacking is a reliable way of measuring and validating companies' green claims, which is what makes Access Accounting's new software so valuable.

“Like many successful innovations, it seems so simple you wonder why no one has already thought of it. That Access Accounting have, shows why they're such a successful and innovative firm and will continue to be so.”