What the ‘Old Guys’ Can Tell Us: Edwards and Bell’s “The Theory and Measurement of Business Income”

Abstract

In this article, Geoffrey Whittington reflects on the contribution of Edwards and Bell to the accounting literature. The paper suggests that the issues that Edwards and Bell addressed still underlie many of the contemporary debates, such as that on the conceptual framework of financial reporting. Edwards and Bell (1961) is not only an important historical document but also highly relevant to current thought and practice, and worthy of much better integration within the current accounting literature.