ISO 14051:2011提供了物流成本核算（MFCA）的一般框架。根据MFCA，一个组织内的材料流动和库存以物理单位（如质量、体积）进行跟踪和量化，并评估与这些材料流动相关的成本。由此产生的信息可以激励组织和管理者寻找机会，同时产生财务效益并减少不利的环境影响。MFCA适用于任何使用材料和能源的组织，无论其产品、服务、规模、结构、位置以及现有的管理和会计系统。 MFCA可以扩展到供应链中的其他组织，包括上游和下游，从而有助于开发一种综合方法来提高供应链中的材料和能源效率。这种扩展可能是有益的，因为在一个组织中，废物的产生通常是由供应商提供的材料的性质或质量，或客户要求的产品规格决定的。 根据定义，管理会计和环境管理会计（EMA）专注于为组织内部决策提供信息- 制作MFCA是EMA的主要工具之一，它也关注内部决策信息，旨在补充现有的环境管理和管理会计实践。虽然组织可以选择在MFCA分析中包含外部成本，但外部成本不在ISO 14051:2011的范围内。 ISO 14051:2011中介绍的MFCA框架包括通用术语、目标和原则、基本要素和实施步骤。然而，关于提高材料或能源效率的技术的详细计算程序或信息不在ISO 14051的范围内: 2011 ISO 14051:2011不适用于第三方认证。

ISO 14051:2011 provides a general framework for material flow cost accounting (MFCA). Under MFCA, the flows and stocks of materials within an organization are traced and quantified in physical units (e.g. mass, volume) and the costs associated with those material flows are also evaluated. The resulting information can act as a motivator for organizations and managers to seek opportunities to simultaneously generate financial benefits and reduce adverse environmental impacts. MFCA is applicable to any organization that uses materials and energy, regardless of their products, services, size, structure, location, and existing management and accounting systems. MFCA can be extended to other organizations in the supply chain, both upstream and downstream, thus helping to develop an integrated approach to improving material and energy efficiency in the supply chain. This extension can be beneficial because waste generation in an organization is often driven by the nature or quality of materials provided by a supplier, or the specification of the product requested by a customer. By definition, management accounting and environmental management accounting (EMA) focus on providing organizations with information for internal decision-making. MFCA, one of the major tools of EMA, also focuses on information for internal decision-making, and is intended to complement existing environmental management and management accounting practices. Although an organization can choose to include external costs in an MFCA analysis, external costs are outside the scope of ISO 14051:2011. The MFCA framework presented in ISO 14051:2011 includes common terminologies, objective and principles, fundamental elements, and implementation steps. However, detailed calculation procedures or information on techniques for improving material or energy efficiency are outside the scope of ISO 14051:2011. ISO 14051:2011 is not intended for the purpose of third party certification.