What are the research methods of current accounting theory?

At present, the research on the research methods of accounting theory in China is still in its infancy, and the research is not very in-depth. Although after the founding of the People's Republic of China, especially since the 1980s, China has made great achievements in accounting theory research, and consciously or unconsciously adopted such methods in theoretical research, but the special research on research methods is still insufficient.

Accounting, as a worldwide business language, its theory and theoretical research methods should also have no national boundaries, at least the research methods of western countries should be worth learning from in China. There are many research methods of western accounting theory, but in essence there are three main research methods: descriptive method, normative method and empirical method. Descriptive methods summarize the conceptual structure by describing what the current practice is. This method emphasizes accounting practice, which is the basis of developing accounting theory. Therefore, the accounting theory formed by this method is very practical to a certain extent. But "existence is not equal to rationality", it is difficult to explain the truth of what exists. Due to the obvious defects of this method, the normative method came into being.

Normative methods, mainly using deduction, induction and other logical methods, summarize the theoretical concepts of accounting from the laws of accounting activities, and try to lead to "good accounting practice logically summarizes or shows what it should be." However, it is very difficult to establish a consistent and consistent accounting theory, and there may be different opinions and disagreements. At the same time, when using induction, it is difficult to generalize or draw principles that can be applied by all enterprises; Deduction is generally based on the conclusion of induction. If the assumptions and premises are false and wrong, then the derived conclusions must be false and wrong. Of course, induction and deduction cannot be completely separated.

Whether descriptive method or normative method is used to guide the formulation of accounting principles or standards and standardize accounting practice, it must be tested by practice. Because this theory lacks enough convincing arguments and can't find enough basis to prove its point of view, it may or may not be trusted by people In order to overcome the defects of subjective imagination in traditional accounting theory, an empirical accounting theory has emerged to explain and predict accounting practice by empirical methods.

The empirical method requires putting forward some assumptions or assumptions about reality and then proving them through experience or actual evidence, and then selecting relevant accounting principles, standards and procedures until the whole accounting theory system. At present, the application of empirical methods has not been fully developed, especially the research on comprehensive projects is not enough, mainly because there are many components in comprehensive projects and the social and economic environment often changes.

At present, it is very difficult or even impossible to make assumptions and analysis on sex projects.

It should be said that these three methods have not exhausted the research methods of accounting theory. With the deepening of theoretical research and the continuous development of related sciences, more research methods will be produced and developed. At the same time, the connotation of these research methods is very rich, and it is not easy to grasp them well. We should also study it in depth.

In some domestic books introducing western accounting theory, some accounting theory research methods are also listed, such as ethical methods, sociological methods, economic methods, event methods and systematic methods (some books use different terms, but their essential meanings are the same). Let's take a cursory look at these so-called "methods". Ethical law puts forward some moral standards that financial reports or accounting information should meet as the basis for establishing accounting principles, standards or theoretical systems; Sociological law emphasizes that accounting information should reflect the impact of business activities on society or the social responsibility that enterprises should bear; The macroeconomic goal of economic law is the basis of accounting idea and practice; Event law holds that accounting purpose

The purpose is to provide economic matters related to various possible decision-making models, and the task of accountants is only to provide information on related matters, so that users can choose appropriate matters themselves; The systematic method holds that accounting can be regarded as a complete system, that is, accounting has its own goals and components. On this basis, the principles and methods of system theory are introduced into accounting discipline to construct accounting theory.

We believe that these are not the research methods of accounting theory, but the optional behavioral purposes that must be defined in the first step of the formation of accounting theory, that is, from which angle to consider the problem. As the starting point of research, it is the basis of constructing accounting theory rather than legislation. For example, under the moral standards of "justice, truthfulness, rationality and fairness", ethical law mainly uses human thinking modes such as judgment, reasoning, analysis and synthesis, and adopts descriptive methods, normative methods and even empirical methods. For example, European Directive No.4 regards "truthfulness and fairness" as the highest standard of financial statements. It can be seen that these so-called "methods" are based on certain assumptions given in advance, and use descriptive methods, normative methods or empirical methods to construct accounting theories. Method is the way, means, tools and ways to achieve a certain goal. These so-called methods mentioned above are only pre-defined from different angles in order to learn accounting theory. Therefore, it is worth discussing whether these can be regarded as the research methods of accounting theory. The book Accounting Theory written by Wang He and Shi Renfu is properly translated into "xxxx Theory". At least, these methods can not be included in the research methods of accounting theory alongside descriptive methods and normative methods. It's just that the extension of concepts overlaps, which does not meet the requirements of definition and classification.

Why are these alternative quotations not research methods, but empirical methods? The empirical method is not based on a single assumption, but on the investigation and research of factors affecting accounting and auditing practice. Based on the objective environment, according to the different environments of different problems (the objective world is complex and there are many influencing factors), it is considered as a scientific hypothesis for the convenience of testing. Although the empirical method itself cannot restrict accounting practice, it can test the accounting theory formed by descriptive method and normative method and judge whether the existing theory is reasonable, which is essentially different from the above-mentioned alternative citation based on a certain hypothesis. Therefore, empirical method is a research method of accounting theory. Although it cannot be used to construct accounting theory alone, it can play a certain role in constructing accounting theory through other methods.

The research of accounting theory should flexibly use various alternative behavioral purposes according to the needs of the objective environment. The purpose of these acts are not isolated from each other. Generally speaking, more than one purpose must be clearly used when constructing accounting theory. At the same time, we should also see that any theoretical research method is not perfect and omnipotent, and it has its shortcomings, so it should be flexible and complementary when applied.