资源描述：
《Ball & Brown_1968》由会员上传分享，免费在线阅读，更多相关内容在学术论文-天天文库。
1、AnEmpiricalEvaluationofAccountingIncomeNumbersRAYBALL*andPHILIPBROWNfAccountingtheoristshavegenerallyevaluatedtheusefulnessofaccount-ingpracticesbytheextentoftheiragreementwithaparticularanalyticmodel.Themodelmayconsistofonlyafewassertionsoritmaybearigorous
2、lydevelopedargument.Ineachcase,themethodofevaluationhasbeentocompareexistingpracticeswiththemorepreferablepracticesim-pilki'Jytthrini)irin'orwiiihsuint"tatoukra"wrhtittihrmuuk'linpiltsrml'practicesshouldpossess.Theshortcomingofthismethodisthatitignoresasign
3、ificantsourceofknowledgeoftheworld,namely,theextenttowhichthepredictionsofthemodelconformtoobservedbehavior.Itisnotenoughtodefendananalyticalinquiryonthebasisthatitsassumptionsareempiricallysupportable,forhowisonetoknowthatatheoryembracesalloftherelevantsup
4、portableassumptions?Andhowdoesoneexplainthepredictivepowersofpropc^tionswhicharebasedonun-verifiableassumptionssuchasthemaximizationofutilityfunctions?Further,howisonetoresolvedifferencesbetweenpropositionswhicharisefromconsideringdifferentaspectsoftheworld
5、?Thelimitationsofacompletelyanalyticalapproachtousefulnessareil-lustratedbytheargumentthatincomenumberscannotbedefinedsub-stantively,thattheylack'"meaning"andarethereforeofdoubtfulutility.^Theailmentstemsinpartfromthepatchworkdevelopmentofaccount-*Universit
6、yofChicago.tUniversityofWesternAustralia.TheauthorsareindebtedtotheparticipantsintheWorkshopinAccountingResearchattheUniver-sityofChicago,ProfessorMyronScholes,andMessrs.OwenHewettandIanWatts.^VersionsofthisparticularargumentappearinCanning(1929);Gilman(193
7、9);PatonandLittleton(1940);Vatter(1947),Ch.2;EdwardsandBell(1961),Ch.1;Chambers(1964),pp.267-68;Chambers(1966),pp.4and102;Lim(1966),esp.pp.645and649;Chambers(1967),pp.745-55;Ijiri(1967),Ch.6,esp.pp.120-31;andSterling(1967),p.65.159160JOURNALOFACCOUNTINGRESE
8、ARCH,AUTUMN,1968ingpracticestomeetnewsituationsastheyarise.Accountantshavehadtodealwithconsolidations,leases,mergers,researchanddevelopment,price-levelchanges,andtaxationcharges,tonamejustafewproblemar
