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The focus of attention in financial reporting
Author(s) -
Rosenfield Paul
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
abacus
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.632
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1467-6281
pISSN - 0001-3072
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-6281.2005.00166.x
Subject(s) - focus (optics) , abandonment (legal) , abstraction , positive economics , economics , epistemology , political science , law , philosophy , physics , optics
This article discusses a concept of the focus of attention and its implications for financial reporting, a concept that has essentially been ignored in the financial reporting literature. Ignoring it has made dealing with the conflict between the proprietary and the entity theories of the firm the most intractable problem in financial reporting. Exploring the concept of the focus of attention permits abandonment of the conflict rather than continuation of the attempt to solve it. It permits avoiding the errors committed by those involved in the conflict: dealing with the wrong level of abstraction and incorporating contradictions, fictions, and false assumptions. Applying the concept of the focus of attention helps solve a number of issues not solvable by consideration of the theories of the firm.