Academic literature on the topic 'Theory of accounting'

Based on the deductive understanding of current publications in the area of accounting theory, it is determined that it is increasingly acquiring signs of verbalism. It is caused by an excessive enthusiasm for foreign terminology, and without a balanced application in the context of accounting, since it is based on arbitrary interpretations of foreign words, as a result of which the authors fall into a semantic trap. The author emphasizes the importance of focusing not on false verbose scholastic exercises in an attempt to pretend to be the discoverers of certain ephemeris terminologies, but on the real problems of accounting, which negatively affects the state of the domestic economy. It is noted that this happened due to the growing remoteness of accounting theory from pragmatism and the predominance of utopian ideas in it, which have nothing to do with accounting, but is only an adjustment to it in order to sell books that attract buyers by the incomprehensibility of names and ignoring the fundamentals of accounting theory. After all, even such a basic financial and economic category as capital, in many cases began to affect negative numbers, and the “tax shield of an enterprise” – depreciation is considered synonymous with its antipode – depreciation of fixed assets. And instead of at least solving the problem of the targeted use of accumulated financial resources for the simple reproduction of non-current assets, in many cases not only depreciation of fixed assets, but even the capital of the enterprise is directed to the payment of dividends. In addition, the current fashion for foreign-language terms distracts scientists from unsolved problems of methodological support of accounting, obscuring them with verbalism of ephemerality, which never end with at least some pragmatic methodological developments, but only verbose attempts to convince them of their pseudo-relevance, as a result of which the accounting theory goes astray. The possibility of solving the current paradoxes regarding the main accounting categories by using the achievements of predecessors, which are recognized by the classics of accounting theory, is substantiated.

It is widely agreed that contemporary accounting practice is largely based on the application of professional accounting standards rather than on the application of sound, academic bases of theory. This has led to uncertainty within the field which has in turn inhibited the ability of accounting to develop into a more robust academic discipline. In conducting a thematic analysis of existing literature, this study will identify and expand on three key themes which will collectively establish the argument positing that a lacking basis of accounting theory has impaired the scholastic development of accounting practice worldwide. By introducing this argument to the academic community, this study will expose the economic risks associated with accounting’s absent bases of theory and will consequently add value by highlighting the need for additional research into the development, clarification and refinement of accounting theories that will result in more useful accounting practices worldwide.

The study attempts to assess the relevance of accounting theories by adopting a cross-sectional research design through survey from randomly chosen graduate and post-graduate commerce students of Tripura, a north-eastern Indian state. Based on the literature research, hypotheses and a model are formed; the reliability and validity of the instrument is checked before the final survey. The inferential statistics indicate likely to conclude that pedagogy impacts perception on accounting theories which in turn influence practices, accounting standards, financial statements, and accounting researches. It acknowledges few limitations; practice implications and policy importance are indicated and draw a roadmap for further studies.