Current trends in financial accounting theory  
in the context of its historical development 
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Współczesne kierunki zainteresowania teorii rachunkowości finansowej w świetle zarysu jej rozwoju
Current trends in financial accounting theory in the context of its historical development

Author(s): Anna Szychta
Subject(s): Economy
Published by: Stowarzyszenie Księgowych w Polsce

Summary/Abstract: At the beginning of the 21st century accounting has a centuries-long history of evolution in the area of practical application as well as considerable scientific achievements in the form of theories, varying in scope and degree of generality, developed as a result of deductive and empirical research. The accelerating globali-sation and socio-economic changes that have been taking place during the past few decades, especially in the field of management and information and communication technology, have entailed a widening of the scope of accounting science, which encompasses examination of accounting practice and results of this research in the form of theory. The aim of this contribution is to present chief directions and issues in financial accounting theory in the first decade of the 21st century against the background of the past development of this field of study. Due to space constraints only main representatives of the trends described in the paper have been named and only those aspects of financial accounting evolution have been addressed which the authors considers the most important. Based on the author's studies in Polish and foreign literature of the subject, the paper discusses the nature and two types of accounting theories (normative and descriptive), ex post financial accounting theories, contemporary challenges in financial accounting theory and critique of accounting as a science.

  • Issue Year: 2010
  • Issue No: 56
  • Page Range: 245-266
  • Page Count: 21
  • Language: Polish