ABSTRACT

Financial accounting theory has numerous practical applications and policy implications, for instance, international accounting standard setters are increasingly relying on theoretical accounting concepts in the creation of new standards; and corporate regulators are increasingly turning to various conceptual frameworks of accounting to guide regulation and the interpretation of accounting practices.

The global financial crisis has also led to a new found appreciation of the social, economic and political importance of accounting concepts generally and corporate financial reporting in particular. For instance, the fundamentals of capital market theory (i.e. market efficiency) and measurement theory (i.e. fair value) have received widespread public and regulatory attention.

This comprehensive, authoritative volume provides a prestige reference work which offers students, academics, regulators and practitioners a valuable resource containing the current scholarship and practice in the established field of financial accounting theory.

1. Development of Financial Accounting Theory  2. History of Financial Accounting Theory in Britain  3. Financial Accounting and Reporting in the United States of America: 1820-2010, Toward the sunshine from the shadows  4. Evolution of Early Practice Descriptive Theory in Accounting  5. Accounting and the Decision Usefulness Framework  6. Price Variation and Inflation Accounting Research  7. Standard Setting, Politics and Change Management: A personal perspective  8. International Differences in IFRS Adoptions and IFRS Practices  9. Fair Value and the Great Financial Crisis  10. Fair Value and IFRS  11. Valuation Models: An issue of accounting theory  12. Earnings Management: Implications and controversies  13. Agency Theory: Usefulness and implications for financial accounting  14. Disclosure and the Cost of Capital: A survey of the theoretical literature 15. A Bayesian Understanding of Information Uncertainty and the Cost of Capital 16. Controlling for Risk in Accounting Research  17. Financial Measurement and Financial Markets  18. Social Theorisation of Accounting: Challenges to Positive Research  19. True and Fair, A Business Ethos ‘Par Excellence’  20. Accounting for the Carbon Challenge  21. Corporate Sustainability Reporting: Theory and practice