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CSR and Accounting: Drawing on W eber and A ristotle to Rethink Generally Accepted Accounting Principles
Author(s) -
Christie Nancy,
Dyck Bruno,
Morrill Janet,
Stewart Ross
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
business and society review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.524
H-Index - 21
eISSN - 1467-8594
pISSN - 0045-3609
DOI - 10.1111/basr.12015
Subject(s) - individualism , constraints accounting , materialism , interpretation (philosophy) , accounting , mainstream , positive accounting , competitor analysis , positive economics , accounting research , management accounting , sociology , epistemology , economics , financial accounting , accounting information system , political science , law , management , computer science , philosophy , programming language , market economy
The purpose of this article is to discuss and provide an alternative, less materialist–individualist approach to interpret the four assumptions of generally accepted accounting principles: economic entity, unit measure, periodic reporting, and going concern. The article draws from and builds on arguments first developed by W eber and A ristotle to demonstrate how a materialist–individualist moral point of view influences the conventional interpretation of the four basic assumptions for generally accepted accounting principles. We then propose an ideal‐type conceptual framework upon which to critique mainstream accounting theory and to develop alternative accounting theory that balances multiple forms of well‐being (including financial, but also social, physical, spiritual, and ecological well‐being) for multiple stakeholders (including owners, employees, customers, suppliers, competitors, neighbors, future generations, and so forth).