For Marx: A critique of Jacques Richard's ‘The dangerous dynamics of modern capitalism (From static to IFRS’ futuristic accounting)’

This commentary critically discusses Jacque Richard's thesis that we can explain the development of financial accounting across four major countries over the last 200 or so years, as the consequence of the progressive shortening of time preference for consumption as capital socialised, by contrasting it with the accounting implications of Marx's theory of the transition to capitalism. It provides a critique of Richard's definition of capitalism, queries his interpretation of the historical evidence, and questions his diagnosis of the cause and the likely consequences of IFRSs’ ‘futuristic’ malaise. It concludes, nonetheless, that only by conducting such challenging comparative international research will we realise the promise of critical accounting history.