The Accounting Review Vol. 44 No. 2 1969
Indications of Pragmatism and Empiricism in Accounting Thought.
Abstract
The central purpose of accounting is to provide information, a few would disagree with the statement, yet many would disagree about the nature of the information that can and should be provided by the accounting process. The purpose of this paper is to create an awareness that at least two definite lines of thought exist and to encourage accountants to give explicit recognition to these lines of thought in their research endeavors. Each line of thought is considered in terms of one, the primary goal of accounting, two, the approach to definition and measurement, and three, the nature of associations. The primary lines of accounting thought with which this paper is concerned are labeled pragmatic and empirical. They are related to the accounting goal of providing information and they have substantially influenced the development of accounting theory. The role of the two lines of accounting thought are similar in many respects. Because of this similarity, the fundamental differences in the goals have often been obscured and many conflicting and incompatible concepts in accounting have not been exposed.
- DOI
- 10.2308/tar-4486728
- Volume
- 44
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 382-388
- Language
- en
- Sources
- openalex crossref