Two Views of Accounting Measurement

The two views to be addressed here are the Chambers/Sydney view that accepts only one measurement method—current net realizable price—and the Staubus/mainstream view that accepts several measurement methods in the same financial report. These two views became well‐established in the literature of accounting in the 1960s and their proponents have clung tenaciously to their oft‐criticized positions for some forty years. However commendable their original expositions may have been, their continuing existence does no credit to the small coterie of accountants now interested in theory. This article is aimed at ‘narrowing the areas of difference’ between adherents to the two views by isolating fundamental bases for them and exposing the reasoning supporting their structures. In a nutshell, they differ in their objectives and they can be expected to survive unless their adherents agree on the objectives of financial reporting.