Environmental accounting identifies and measures environmental costs and provides them to interested parties of corporation. The purposes of this study are as follows: First, it investigates the method of measurement and the timing of recognition of environmental costs. Second, it suggests the method of disclosure of environmental costs. In order to accomplish these objectives, this study reviewed relevant literature and studies in advanced countries and Korea. The main results of this study can be summarized into four points: (1) environmental costs are classified into environmental pollution cost and environmental pollution prevention cost, by considering the sources of occurrence of, the functions of and the types of environmental costs. (2) the methods of measurement of environmental costs are various but they almost all subjective and arbitrary. So an accurate measurement of environmental cost is actually difficult. (3) According to the accrual basis, environmental costs are recognized respective to prior period adjustments, expenses or losses of the current period and the assets of the next period. (4) There are 3 methods of disclosure of environmental costs: an extension model of financial statements, a compromise model, and an original model. An extension model financial statements is easy to apply in business practice because it discloses environmental costs by adding accounts into the framework of a traditional accounting system or supplementary reports. This research can contribute to the establishment of accounting standards for environmental costs in Korea.