Abstract

MEJIA-SOTO, Eutimio; MORA-ROA, Gustavo  and  MONTES-SALAZAR, Carlos Alberto. The Role of Accounting in the General Structure of Knowledge. Cuad. Contab. [online]. 2013, vol.14, n.34, pp.159-187. ISSN 0123-1472.

Accounting is a dynamic knowledge, in constant movement in its internal structures and in its external relation to its formal object of study: the qualitative and quantitative valuation of the existence and circulation of environmental, social and economic wealth controlled by organisations. The positioning of accounting in the field of knowledge has yielded characterisations of it as an art, a technique, social technology, all the way to more modern notions that defend it as a science. The present paper supports the notion of accounting as an applied social science. Such label implies that it belongs in the field of moral knowledge, and that its aims and functions must undergo an ethical examination in order to ensure its orientation towards contributing to the integral sustainability of development.

Keywords : Science; Technology; Discipline; Technique; System; Art; Epistemology; Social accounting; social sciences; social epistemology; qualitative research; quantitative research.

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