The war of the sidewardly mobile corporate financial report

A war exists in corporate financial reporting and the purpose of this paper is to identify and analyse why it persists despite continuous efforts to provide a resolution. The study uses the organic intellectual approach to criticism recommended by Tinker [Beyond the Brilovian critique: traditional vs. organic intellectuals in critical accounting research. Acc Public Interest 2002;2:68-87] and focuses on the related commodity forms of public accountancy professionals and historical cost accounting as key features of the war. The methodology of the study is broadly historical and the analysis reveals battlegrounds of reporting deception, audit criticism, governmental and professional responses and academic challenge. The paper argues that the war has caused reporting quality to remain poor throughout its history-i.e. to be sidewardly rather than upwardly mobile in terms of quality aspirations and achievement. It recommends fundamental debates on two commodity forms in corporate financial reporting. The first debate concerns the type of public accountancy professional wanted and needed by society in relation to corporate financial reporting. The second debate relates to the problem of social reality construction and its representation by accounting numbers. The responsibility of academic accountants in these debates is particularly emphasised.