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Financial Accounting
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There is no single authoritative and generally accepted definition of financial accounting, or of accounting in general. It began as a practical activity in response to perceived needs, and for most of its development it has progressed in the same way, adapting to meet changes in the demands made on it. Where the needs differed in different countries or environments, accounting tended to develop in different ways as a response to a particular environment, essentially on the Darwinian principle: useful accounting survived. Because accounting devel- oped in different ways, it is likely that definitions suggested in different contex- tual surroundings will vary.
At a general level it is at least safe to say that accounting exists to provide a service. In the box below there are three definitions. These have all been taken from the same economic and cultural source (the United States) because that country has the longest history of attempting explicit definitions of this type. Note that each suggested definition seems broader than the previous one, and the third one, from 1970, does not restrict accounting to financially quantifiable information at all. Many would not accept this last point even in the US context and, as will be explored at length in this book, attitudes to accounting and its role differ substantially around the world.
DAVID ALEXANDER - Personal Name
2nd Edition
0 273 68520 1
NONE
Financial Accounting
Accounting
English
Pearson Education Limited
2004
London
1- 484
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