The definition of accounting theory according to Coetsee (2010) is described in two different ways. The first philosophy concludes that accounting theory is a set of general principles that guide the evolution of accounting practice. The other philosophy describes accounting theory as activity of explaining and predicting accounting practice. What the viewer can see from the statement of the first philosophy is that the accounting theory exists before accounting practices meanwhile the latter states that the accounting practice exists before the theory. Since there are many arguments about this matter, many academic researchers have concluded that accounting theory can be divided into two categories which are positive and normative theory. …show more content…
The principles are the result from the accounting practice that has been used and improved over the time. The deeper explanation about the statement is that, accounting standard such as IFRS is created based on the previous accounting practice itself rather the theories. The theories are useful in guiding the other field like finance and economics. There is also evidence that the accounting theory exists after standard has been practiced (Cluskey, Ehlen and Rivers 2007). The father of accounting, Luca Pacioli explained about double-entry booking in one of his studies. The study described the practice and explained to the readers the logic behind it. The research had given birth to dozens of studies made by theorist to further discuss about the accounting practice. By this evidence, the readers can also conclude that not only the standard that exist from accounting practice but in fact, accounting theory also exist to explain the nature of the practice. Back to the purpose of this paper, accounting theory plays no role in the setting of accounting standard is approved by two points: the process of setting accounting standard itself is a political activity and the development of accounting standard is influence by the existing accounting practice not accounting
If some research is undertaken that provides evidence that capital markets do not always behave in accordance with the Efficient Market Hypothesis, does this invalidate research that adopts an assumption that capital markets are efficient?
The purpose of accounting is to record the financial information, such as transactions and performance, related to a business. The accounting profession has been in existence for as long as business transactions have occurred. It wasn’t until 1494, however, when Luca Pacioli, a Venetian merchant, wrote Summa de Arithmetica, Geometrio, Proportioni et Proportionalita. His writings described a two-entry system of debits and credits, which became the basis for modern accounting systems. Three centuries later, with the emergence of the Industrial Revolution and the development of corporations, the profession of being an accountant became a necessity to keep track of the rising costs and cash flows. As a result, the American Association of Public
The field of accounting is constantly evolving. This is true not only for the theory of accounting itself but also the entities that govern its theory and practice. Presently, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) are faced with some of the biggest challenges to date. To understand the significance of these two boards, it is necessary to understand their histories, relations between the boards, and the standards that they set. Also how the knowledge of these boards and the field they lead, gained through the masters of science in accountancy
This article talk about the revolution in accounting. The revolution in accounting through five different stages, there are scientific revaluation, accounting disciplinary matrix, anomalies and professional insecurity, alternative proposals and their evaluation and schools of though. For the first stage, scientific revaluation become the fundamental of the accounting revolution. It provides the technical function to accountants as it promote the academic paper works to a more efficient way. Base on the revaluation of scientific, the information about accounting records become more regular pattern. Therefore, the rule of accounting getting more complete and internationalization. After the disciplinary matrix established up, the anomalies and professional insecurity also changed. Rely on the conventional accounting practices the anomalies and professional insecurity has changed a lot. The accountants’ practices used to be critics. However, it turned to level practices. After the revolution of all above, alternative proposals has changed. For example, the asset values used to be based on the historical cost system, but after the alternative proposals and their evaluation, it could be have another way to
When talking about accounting, the first thing we should know is the history of its development. Traditionally, the development is from inductive to deductive. Inductive theory assume what is done by the majority is the most appropriate practice. However, It did not seek to evaluate the logic or merit of
In this article, Miller et al. concern about the understanding of the historical foundation of accounting practice by investigating how theories of costing and budgeting were constructed in the first thirty years of the 20th century. In addition, the authors suggest several radical factors of theoretical understanding of accounting in relation to the other social and organizational practices.
From 1904, some people suggest that we need a uniform accounting standard in the world. After the work hard in more than half century, in 1973, international accounting standard committee has been found. Although this is a non-government organization, they set up accounting standard for all the country, which is convenient to international trade, comparison, and analysis. With the increase of recognition, there are more countries used it, but many organizations and people disagreed the standard. This essay will focus on the different attitude of initial recognition methods of International Accounting Standard 16: Property, Plant, and Equipment and discuss the advantage and disadvantage of methods and influence the reason why IAS will allow
Assets, liabilities, equity, revenue, and expenses has their own balance. A company will produce a trial balance which will give the balance of all these in a certain amount of time such as monthly, quarterly, or annually. The trial balance ensures that account balance is accurate. If the accounting equation isn’t balanced out then there is an error in the accounting records.
a) Conservatism concept - One of the primary principles in accounting is Conservatism Concept or also known as Prudence Concept. This principle is intended to simultaneously provide more reliable financial statements as well as protect the accountant from legal liability. It holds that when faced with significant uncertainties about the solution to an accounting problem, an accountant should favor the solution that least favorably affects the income and net assets of the current period. In short if there are two choices, always choose the worst for the company.
The accounting world is shaped by stringent and clear rules, principles, standards and guidelines. These are all meant to define accounting operations and reporting discipline. With the emergence of International Accounting Standards (IAS), which was later replaced by International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), the accounting concepts, analysis, disclosures, reporting and presentation became easier and practical. Currently, accountants, managers and related parties find it concrete and consistent in protecting professional boundaries.
It has been become an issue of great concern that the accounting profession must find a common theory in order to address and put the issue at rest. This therefore, has called for the study of this topic under review “the demand for and supply of accounting theories: the market for excuses. As a result of this several questions have been raised. For instance, the question of why accounting theories are predominantly normative has been put forward by this article? Secondly, why no single theory in accounting profession that is generally or widely accepted? It has been argued that the financial accounting theories have been found to be ineffective most especially in the area of impacting accounting practice and policy, though, this has been
Accounting is the art of measuring and communicating financial information. To maintain uniformity and consistency in preparing and maintaining books of accounts, certain rules or principles have been evolved. These rules or principles are classified as concepts and conventions. One of the important concept in accounting is “Measurement” (Mattessich, 1977)
Accounting is the language of business. It is a profession that is being guided by principles, concepts, conventions, laws, etc. All these fundamental building blocks serve as common and general compasses to all practitioners of the profession. In some cases, they are nation-wide tailored, while in other cases, they are universally tailored. Accounting as a living, practical, dynamic and realistic profession covers so many areas of social, economic (business), and governmental activities. Surely, any endeavour that involves monetary and material activities create a room for the services of Accounting. Many of the human endeavours for which the accounting profession plays significant (some times inevitable) roles include; Banking, Insurance, Manufacturing, Farming Contracting, Oil and Gas, Mining, Transportation (Air, Land and Sea), Educational Institutions, Churches, Ministries, ICT, Hire Purchase, Local Government Authorities, Estate Businesses, Export and Import Businesses, Bill of Exchange Transactions, Royalties Transactions, Consignment Transactions, Stock Market Transactions, Sports, Entertainment, Hospitals and Hospitality Industry, etc.
Myrdal was an economist who belongs to Swedish and lived during the year 1988 till 1987. He contributed towards the theory of markets, economic fluctuation and a very efficient use of the limited resources. Because of his curiosity, he got the Nobel Prize for his theories presented. The theory of principles for Financial Theory profile sets out the principles that the Accounting Standards Board considers should bring about the research and demonstration of general purpose financial theories in the field of economics. The basic purpose of articulating such principles is to provide a rational frame of reference to be used by the Board for the improvement and evaluation of accounting standards in economics and by others who act together with the Board through the standard-setting procedure. Such a frame of orientation should explain the conceptual foundation of projected accounting standards and should enable standards to be developed on a steady basis by decreasing the need to discuss fundamental issues each time a standard is reviewed or established (Qiyan Wua, 2014). The economic theory is being published because of the knowledge of the principles should help the users and the preparers of the theories, as well including auditors and others, to appreciate the Board’s line of attack to formulating accounting principles and the nature of the information mentioned in the general purpose financial theories. Economic theories are a very valuable tool in analyzing the company’s
Accounting can be defined in a number of ways, but I chose the book definition, which is; Accounting is an information system that provides reports to stakeholders about the economic activities and condition of business. The person in charge of accounting is called the accountant. The accountant is typically required to follow a set of rules and regulations. These rules and regulations are called the General Accepted Accounting Principles. Throughout these next few paragraphs, I will be giving you the history and evolution of accounting, and I will be explaining who the stakeholders are and what type of information they require, and I will be explaining the role of accounting in business. There will be many examples and type of business