The Accounting Review Vol. 39 No. 2 1964
MEASUREMENT AND OBJECTIVITY IN ACCOUNTING.
Abstract
The article focuses on the measurement and objectivity in accounting. The awakening interest in metrological aspects of accounting provides opportunities for critical examination of quite a few contemporary dogmas. Harold Bierman, accountant speaks of it as a step towards "a long awaited revolution in accounting." The first is the proposition that different descriptions or measurements may be used for different purposes. "Different measurements for different purposes" may mean measurements of different characteristics, either by use of the same scale of measurements or by the use of different scales. There is one set of measurements, which results in a representation of financial position, which is serviceable to all users, managers, investors and creditors alike. This is a set of measurements, in the scale of monetary units, of the contemporary realizable prices of all the seeable assets and of the obligations of a firm. This set of measurements is subject to errors of estimation, but these errors are measurable.
- DOI
- 10.2308/tar-7107021
- Volume
- 39
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 264-274
- Language
- en
- Sources
- openalex crossref