Abstract

PEREZ-GRAU, Samuel Leónidas. Paradigmatic accounting programs in the twenty-first century. Entramado [online]. 2014, vol.10, n.1, pp.126-148. ISSN 1900-3803.

There is no general theory of accounting, but rather a variety of conflicting ones. The objective of this research is to emphasize the coherent nature of the two main paradigmatic programs to which accounting is being reduced: Pure or General Accounting and the Accounting Perspective of Information. Both arise from the rupture that occurred from the 1960s to the 1980s because of more radical empirical differences that have given rise to Neopositivist and Structuralist epistemic focuses in the sciences. This investigative article, written at a descriptive level, proceeds from the application of a deductive method regarding the review of underlying beliefs in current professional accounting practices. When this inquiry is completed, we obtain, as a result, that the coherence of the beliefs prescribed by the paradigmatic program of Pure Accounting, is given by social criticism; while, from the Information accounting perspective, the anthropological current of functionalism provides this coherence. In conclusion, it is possible to synthesize the problem of the characterization of the paradigmatic accounting programs in effect into a three-dimensional graphic model, according to: the investigator's posture (P), the Methodological Vision (V), and the need for Social Transformation (T).

Keywords : Paradigmatic programs; pure or general accounting; accounting analysis; financial accounting; management accounting; management control.

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