Continuing Importance of Basic Concepts ^☆

Abstract

High significance for accounting objectives is evident from the support they provide for accounting actions. An inventory of these objectives could be very useful. In such an inventory, the integrity of all account data would be supported by tight identification with the consummated transaction experience of the related enterprise. But since enterprise economic activities are necessarily continuous, the results can only be made understandable by reporting account data periodically. Yet, this allocation to fiscal periods does not call for new measurement of the data. This is so because the center of accounting function is not measurement but that of reporting prior experience. This mistake has come about because of the emphasis on measurement as a function, which invites advocacy of using a “stabilized unit of measure.” This is a useful analytical technique for statistical economics, but it can only represent a revolutionary idea for accounting where the technical function is far more limited.

Citation

(2016), "Continuing Importance of Basic Concepts ^☆ ", A. C. Littleton’s Final Thoughts on Accounting: A Collection of Unpublished Essays (Studies in the Development of Accounting Thought, Vol. 20), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 283-293. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-350420160000020053