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Floccinaucinihilipilification In Accounting — Does It Matter?
Author(s) -
Chambers R.J.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
australian accounting review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.551
H-Index - 36
eISSN - 1835-2561
pISSN - 1035-6908
DOI - 10.1111/j.1835-2561.1996.tb00003.x
Subject(s) - excuse , consistency (knowledge bases) , ideal (ethics) , accounting , face (sociological concept) , law and economics , political science , psychology , law , economics , philosophy , computer science , artificial intelligence , linguistics
Everyone admires consistency in the beliefs and actions of others. It is a token of reliability, long upheld as an ideal by accountants. At the same time, many tolerate and excuse inconsistency — especially on their own part — generally in the face of “unusual” circumstances. That liberty is abused, however, if the occasional becomes habitual, endorsed as a matter of principle or enshrined in the dicta of the influential. Then, the confused and contradictory override the deliverance of common sense and reason. The upshot is chaos in thought and practice and gross interference with the orderly conduct of financial affairs.