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A Unified Approach to the Theory of Accounting and Information Systems.

Claude S. Colantoni¹; René P. Manès²; Andrew Whinston³

¹ Assistant Professor of Economics and Industrial Administration, Carnegie-Mellon University. 1 · ² Associate Dean of the Krannert Graduate School of Industrial Administration, Purdue University. 2 · ³ Professor of Economics and Industrial Administration, Purdue University. 3

Abstract Recently in the accounting literature two different directions have been taken toward research into the theory of accounting and information systems. One approach seeks to modify conventional accounting to take advantage of increasing computer capabilities, while the second approach advocates including more diversified types of information in accounting reports. Although different, both attempts reflect the accountant's desire to serve users of accounting data better and in a more efficient manner. Toward this end the objective of this paper has been to develop a new approach to accounting and information systems which both generalizes and unifies these two directions of research. The approach presents a framework within which one can work on both the theoretical issues concerned with extending accounting to provide more types of information and the practical issues surrounding the efficient implementation of an accounting system on modern computer equipment. In order to accomplish our objective, a very general definition of accounting was assumed, one which concentrated on the concepts of "communication" and "economic event . The accounting system could then be constructed around a "data base" which consists of descriptions of economic events, ( K + 1)-tuples of the form (c, x 1 , x 2 , &haelip;x k ) where c denotes a binary event code and x 1 , x 2 , &haelip;x k are values of the characteristic used to describe the event. In this multidimensional system, we are not restricted to a single valuation scheme and efficiencies are gained in storage by using a description space of variable dimension. Also because the data base in any company is likely to become quite complex, a generalized concept of an account was introduced. The method described would permit economic events to be classified, sorted, and sequenced in a variety of ways to handle flexible needs of the users.

DOI

10.2308/tar-4482502

Volume

46 (1)

Pages

90-102

Language

en

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