A Brief Historical Appreciation of Accounting Theory? But Who Cares?

Abstract

There have been many attempts to develop a theoretical base for accounting. Initially, they were largely descriptions of practice but they soon moved along a modernist path. About 45 years ago, there was a sharp right turn accepting the ideology of neo-liberalism as presented in mainstream economic (positive) theory. There was also a left turn aimed to present some critical resistance to the philosophical naivety of the positive theorists. More recently, both paths, with some exceptions, have tended to swing back to road of the ``centralist'' orthodoxy and resistance has virtually disappeared. And, with dramatic developments in information, and communication technologies a sense of despair has emerged as accounting seeks to survive the chaos late capitalism has brought resulting in no one caring about accounting theory.