General programme, activity sheet

Thursday 5 September, 2013 16:40 to 17:20 Paper
The Asset/Liability Theory - A Contribution to the Revived Debate on Normative Accounting Theory
Speaker: Sonja Wüstemann, European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder), Professor

Authors: Jens Wüstemann and Sonja Wüstemann


With the increasing call for a pluralism of methodologies in accounting re-search the normative accounting theory has been brought back into focus in recent research publications, such as Dichev (2008), Fülbier and Weller (2009) and Miller and Bahnson (2010). One of the drivers of the ‘revival’ of the normative accounting theory is the quest for internal consistency of in-ternational financial reporting standards. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the revived normative debate by means of the example of the asset/liability theory. We do so by providing guidelines to the develop-ment of modern normative accounting theories and then apply those guidelines to the asset/liability theory. This leads us to the conclusion that the asset/liability theory on its own only provides a frame for standard setting decisions, and leaves the exertion of value judgments to the standard setters. But, we also show that, in combination with other (normative) theories, the Boards’ quest for internal consistency further narrows down the standard setters’ choices as regards definition, recognition and meas-urement criteria for financial statement elements.
Further information:

Final Version (260 KB)

Session 2 room 1.3.


Other activities in Session 2 room 1.3.
16:00 h. to 16:40 h.Paper

THE IASB CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK: PURPOSE AND STATUS

Speaker: Chiara Saccon, Dept. of Management, Ca' Foscari University of Venice, Associate Professor
17:20 h. to 18:00 h.Paper

THE IASB AND ASBJ CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORKS: SAME OBJECTIVE, DIFFERENT PERFORMANCE CONCEPTS

Speaker: Carien van Mourik, Open University Business School, Lecturer in accounting

ADEIT Fundació Universitat Empresa

Plaza Virgen de la Paz, 3 · E-46001 Valencia
Phone: +34 96 160 3000