Critique and an Extension of Nohora García’s Understanding Mattessich and Ijiri: A Study of Accounting Thought

Abstract

Several efforts have been made towards basing the practices of corporate accounting on reasoning. This article critiques Understanding Mattessich and Ijiri: A Study of Accounting Thought to expand some of the topics currently relevant to the accounting discourse. The following two claims may be needed for further clarification. Mattessich’s and Ijiri’s presuppositions towards reality actually contribute to reality, as each one of them perceived it as an objective construct, but this idea is challenged in this article. In conceptualizing the practice of accounting, Mattessich may not explain how corporate accounting is perceived. A suitable extension of the book’s topic is thus discussing positive accounting research, elitism in accounting research. More sources on the topics of ‘accounting sociology’ by applying the theory of elitism, ‘positive accounting research’, and ‘citation analysis’ are provided as well. Reading the book may be deemed for accounting researchers trained in the positive traditions as a voyage in ‘the land of wonder,’ but is nonetheless thought-provoking.