Hitit Journal of Social Sciences

Abstract

The increasing risk of depletion of natural resources every passing day is a great threat to all living things. As a result of the increasing damage caused to society and the environment by countries, businesses and people, an awareness of sustainability has begun to emerge all over the world. In this context, higher education institutions and university students also have important responsibilities. The undergraduate program in Public Finance is one of the departments that has critical importance in terms of both educating the accountants of the future and preparing students who will fulfill strategic professions that shape the country's policies for business life. Students' perceptions and awareness of environmental awareness and their perspectives on green accounting practices play a decisive role in ensuring sustainable development. Green accounting is an accounting approach that contributes to the sustainability of environmental resources and emphasizes the concept of social responsibility in accounting, and is based on the principle that businesses operate in a way that considers not only their own interests but also the interests of the entire society. The ultimate goal of green accounting is to ensure sustainable development. In line with these explanations, the main purpose of the study is to investigate the perceptions and awareness of Public Finance students on green accounting and environmental awareness. In order to obtain the data of the study, a survey was applied to students registered in the Department of Public Finance of Kırşehir Ahi Evran University Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences. In this study where the quantitative research method was used, the data obtained from the surveys were analyzed using the SPSS program. Whether there were significant differences between the sub-dimensions of the green accounting and environmental awareness scale in terms of the variables of students' gender, age, class, academic average, and work/internship experience was tested with the hypotheses within the scope of the analysis. Although the findings obtained from the study indicate that the students have theoretical environmental awareness, they revealed that the students have some deficiencies in implementing the issues that need to be done to protect the environment and society. It was determined that the students are aware that everyone should do their part to protect the environment as a matter of social responsibility and that they are ready to make some sacrifices for this. Investigating the green accounting and environmental awareness awareness levels of the students and determining the variables that have a significant effect on them is important in terms of raising students with very high levels of awareness about green accounting and the environment. Thus, it is expected that students graduating from universities with sustainability awareness will contribute to the sustainable development of both our country and the world.