Recent corporate reporting history is well–known for its corporate failures and
questionable accountancy practices, many of which caused the profession to be
frowned upon. However, the splodge on the accounting profession?s reputation
goes deeper than its corporate reporting failures. The scientific foundation
thereof is also being questioned in academic circles. Even though accounting
scholars have been trying to formulate foundational accounting theories, it has
been the accounting regulators that have been more successful in promoting
their versions of what accounting theory should be, which place a question
mark on the legitimacy of current day accounting theory. This thesis aims to
delve deeper into the foundational philosophies of accounting and its impact on
the practice of accounting.
With the current accounting globalisation efforts, the profession?s stewardship
function is becoming less prominent in its promulgated standards, which in
turn brings the focus on the many questionable ethical practices found in the
profession. Even though the regulatory bodies require their members to commit
themselves to professional codes of conduct, which entails competency,
integrity, objectivity and confidentiality, the 1st article in this thesis claims that
ethical conduct is more than mere adherence to rules and regulations. It is also
about the image of not only the profession, but also accounting research and
education.
Accounting is broadly practised, researched and taught within its so–called
conceptual framework, of which a key objective is to guide and inform accounting practice. The conceptual framework became the basis upon which
accounting theory is based. However, many accounting scholars are openly
critical of presenting accounting theory as a set of practical guidelines. The 2nd
article in the thesis concludes that, from an academic perspective, accounting
theory should be based on three quintessential guidelines. The first of which is
its primary purpose of reporting on the historic economic events, secondly the
provision of useable and comparable information about these events and finally,
the facilitation of business decisions based on relevant and reliable information.
In the above mentioned business decisions, the concept of value is often taken
for granted and many accounting techniques? effectiveness is judged on how
well it approximates an item?s value. The 3rd article argues that the multiple
purposes for which accounting information is used complicates the issue of
value, as reported by accounting. Two key conflicting valuation perspectives are
the so–called decision–usefulness and true income perspectives. The current
drive towards fair value accounting, as opposed to historic cost accounting, cast
doubts on the reliability and relevance of accounting information. Even though
it may be argued that value–based techniques are more relevant because it is a
better reflection of the current business conditions, the mere subjective nature
thereof and the accountant?s objective valuation skills make the true relevance
of this information questionable. Furthermore, mixed model valuations found in
financial statements makes cross–company information unreliable.
Accountancy research of the past four decades focussed on the concept of user
decision–usefulness. The user is also pre–eminent in the globalisation of
accounting standards of the FASB and the IASB, where users are specified as
the equity investors, lenders and capital providers. The 4th article acknowledges
that although these user categories are important consumers of the financial
data, there are other users which are also impacted by the financial information
and the company?s operational performances. There are also concerns over
accounting?s key assumptions, such as its quantification and predictive
abilities, which are fundamental to the decision–usefulness objective.
Furthermore, there are questions around how the regulators decided what
information is suppose to be useful and what type of utility is being sought. In summary, the focus on the vocational aspects of accountancy stands in
contrast to claims of accounting as an academic discipline in the social
sciences. The reality is that the practices of the profession will probably always
play a central role in what is taught at university level, and the regulators, as
the final authority on accounting standards, will probably remain dictatorial in
promulgating their versions of accounting theory. Yet, accounting and its wide
spread impact on society, makes it a key discipline within the economical and
management sciences. It is therefore essential for the resurrection of accounting
as a social scientific discipline that there is a return to foundational accounting
research that will prepare (and enable) prospective practitioners and academics
to question the status quo and push back on accounting practices that are
threatening to extinguish the flame of accounting scholarship. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Accounting))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:NWUBOLOKA1/oai:dspace.nwu.ac.za:10394/4578 |
| Date | January 2010 |
| Creators | Buys, Pieter Willem |
| Publisher | North-West University |
| Source Sets | North-West University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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