Professionalism and Accounting Rules

ISBN-13: 9780415285698 / Angielski / Twarda / 2003 / 256 str.

Brian P. West

Opis

The modern history of accounting has been marked by the rapid escalation of a vast array of accounting standards and other technical rules. In spite of this enormous regulatory activity, sudden collapses and other associated financial reporting failures persist. In such a climate, audited financial statements are the most highly regulated of commodities but also the least reliable. This book investigates this issue from the perspective of accounting as a professional occupation. The author argues that the accounting profession is beset by an inferior and incomplete notion of quality in its work which emphasises compliance with processing rules, rather then the correspondence with commercial phenomena necessary to make financial statements reliable guides for human activity. It is revealed that the discourse of accounting researchers is largely unconcerned with improving the technical quality of financial statements and that the emphasis in accounting education is on simply the mastery of a rule-book. Accounting practice itself has degenerated into a ritual of rule compliance.

Spis treści

1. Matters in Conflict: Professionalism, Accounting Rules and the Function of Accounting
2. Professions: Their Nature, Roles and Responsibilities
3. Accounting as a Profession: The Extent and Origins of Occupational Authority
4. The Nature of Accounting Rules
5. Explaining the Proliferation of Accounting Rules
6. Professionalism, Accounting Rules and Accounting Discourse
7. Professionalism, Accounting Rules and Accounting Education
8. Professionalism, Accounting Rules and Accounting Practice
9. Advancing Professional Accounting Knowledge

O autorze

Brian P. West is a senior lecturer in Acccounting at the University of Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. Prior to commencing his academic career he worked in the audit division of an international accounting firm. Dr. West is the author of several articles published in professional and academic journals.