A compilation drawn from over 500 years of English language accounting literature reflecting a lifetime of scholarly enquiry, this book comprises over 5000 quotations of between 1-20 lines in length. The book aims to give an historical perspective as well as an up-to-date overview of what accounting and accountants were, are and do, and is intended both as a reference book and a research tool. Its range extends from general interest to the advanced, covering rules, practices and standards, professional and academic opinions, and the social and logical foundations of accounting; it also draws on the work of scholars in other fields that have some bearing on accounting work and thought.

Here is an A-to-Z compendium of synonyms geared to business concerns. Synonyms include standard terms used in accounting and bookkeeping, computer and advanced technology terms, business law, investment and finance, management and administration, travel terminology, and data and word processing.

Raymond John Chambers was born just over a century ago on 16 November 1917. It is more than fifty years since his first classic, Accounting, Evaluation and Economic Behavior, was published, more than forty since Securities and Obscurities: Reform of the Law of Company Accounts (republished in 1980 as Accounting in Disarray) and over twenty since the unique An Accounting Thesaurus: Five Hundred Years of Accounting. They are drawn upon extensively in this biography of Chambers’ intellectual contributions, as are other of his published works. Importantly, we also analyze archival correspondence not previously examined. While Chambers provided several bibliographical summaries of his work, without the benefits of reviewing and interspersing the text with correspondence materials from the Chambers Archive this study would lack an appreciation of the impact of his early childhood, and nuances related to his practical (including numerous consultancies) and academic experiences. The ‘semi-biographical narrative’ codifies article and editorial length exercises by the authors drawing on parts of the archive related to theory development, measurement and communication. Other parts are also examined. This allows us to respond to those critics who claim his reforms were naive. They further reveal a man of theory and practice, whose theoretical ideas were solidly grounded on observations from his myriad interests and experiences. Many of his practical experiences have not been examined previously. This approach and the first book-length biography differentiates this work from earlier analyses of Chambers’ contribution to the accounting literature. American Accounting Association’s 2021 Thomas J. Burns Biographical Research Award winner, this book provides evidence to support the continued push for the reforms he proposed to accepted accounting thought and practice to ensure accounting is the serviceable technology so admired by Pacioli, Da Vinci and many other Renaissance pioneers. It will be of interest to researchers, educators, practitioners and regulators alike.

This book examines the notion of solvency at law and in accounting; and reveals inconsistent ways of determining solvency therein. Solvency is a critical commercial financial attribute. Quantifying solvency has been of concern to many across time, particularly with regard to business continuity. This study demonstrates that conventional financial statements are deficient in establishing the financial state of an entity, and equally lacking in quantifying its state of solvency. The book contributes to the literature by drawing on real-world observations of how the meshing of commercial and legal foundations creates the environment in which accounting must serve. The aim of this work is to provide insights into what changes to existing financial reporting systems might assist business in mitigating unexpected business failures and the criticism of accounting in the aftermath. Drawing mainly on major Australian cases, links highlight associations between the language of accounting and the data in financial statements; and situations that may be generalised - that have international significance. Hence, this work is relevant to the interests of a wide range of readers. It is also important from a public policy perspective as regulators grapple with a commercial environment heavily influenced by sometimes perceived scandalous corporate activity. Solvency is a topical and ongoing issue for business and financial accounting.

One of the prime purposes of accounting is to communicate and yet, to date, this fundamental aspect of the discipline has received relatively little attention. The Routledge Companion to Accounting Communication represents the first collection of contributions to focus on the power of communication in accounting. The chapters have a shared aim of addressing the misconception that accounting is a purely technical, number-based discipline by highlighting the use of narrative, visual and technological methods to communicate accounting information. The contents comprise a mixture of reflective overview, stinging critique, technological exposition, clinical analysis and practical advice on topical areas of interest such as: The miscommunication that preceded the global financial crisis The failure of sustainability reporting The development of XBRL How to cut clutter With an international coterie of contributors, including a communication theorist, a Big Four practitioner and accounting academics, this volume provides an eclectic array of expert analysis and reflection. The contributors reveal how accounting communications represent, or misrepresent, the financial affairs of entities, thus presenting a state-of-the-art assessment on each of the main facets of this important topic. As such, this book will be of interest to a wide range of readers, including: postgraduate students in management and accounting; established researchers in the fields of both accounting and communications; and accounting practitioners.