Accounting--A Social Institution A Unified Theory for the Measurement of the Profit and Nonprofit Sectors

Subjects:

• Business » Accounting & Taxation
• Business » Public Organizations

Awards:

• Choice Outstanding Academic Book, 1992

Reviews:

• An extremely thought-provoking proposal to present a unified theory for measuring the profit and nonprofit sectors. A systematic multidisciplinary (financial accounting, microeconomics, social science) perspective is offered as a solution to make accounting reports more informative to decision makers as they allocate resources for the betterment of society. Three authoritative practitioners provide an excellent blend of theory and practice, although their writing is dense at times. They delineate the need to change rather than revise our social system to eliminate the dichotomy between the rights of the individual, particularly the disadvantaged, and the collective society. The book consists of nine extensively footnoted chapters and a short but excellent bibliography. Chapter 3 is an outstanding review of societal history of dealing with the disadvantaged. Chapter 2 provides the organizational and societal models underpinning their theory. Chapter 8 presents the empirical application of the model which could benefit from some insights from management accounting. Required acquisition in the area of social accounting for any academic library.
  —Choice

• Endorsement From Robert A. Kavesh
  
  Marcus Nadler Professor of Finance and Economics
  
  
  Stern School of Business
  
  
  New York University: . . . a bold, long-needed and highly relevant volume in dealing with a vital (and generally neglected) sector of the economy. It will stimulate more research and will serve as a yardstick by which subsequent analysts will have their efforts measured.
• Endorsement From Herbert London
  
  
  Dean, Gallatin Division
  
  
  New York University: Just as unified theory of matter has proved elusive to physicists, a unified theory of accounting has proved elusive to financial managers. Now, for the first time, there is a breakthrough book, Accounting: A Social Institution, which illuminates a measuring rod for performance of profit and nonprofit organizations. In the years to come, anyone interested in the complexity of evaluating the financial status of an institution will be required to turn first to this seminal work.
• Endorsement From David H. Warren
  
  
  Director, University Honors Program
  
  
  University of California, Riverside: The book is particularly valuable because it does not simply attempt to provide a practical system for accounting in [service delivery] organizations. Instead, it begins with a set of fundamental assumptions about the social value of human service organizations (HSOs), providing the intellectual framework for the evaluation of these institutions in relation to the social value which they purport to furnish. In particular, the grounding on the three fundamental propositions sets the stage for the reader to consider not just the technical "balance sheet", but the underlying values on which HSOs rest.
• Endorsement From Keith B. Ehrenreich
  
  
  Professor of Accounting
  
  
  California State Polytechnic University
  : Accounting: A Social Institution is the first book to do an in-depth study to reconcile financial and not-for-profit accounting theory . . . This text will be a splendid supplement for accounting courses and particularly for advanced accounting students searching for a theoretical framework. It is must reading for accounting academics, practitioners and executives with interest and/or responsibility in the nonprofit arena.

Table of Contents:

• Preface
• Introduction
• Executive Summary
• The Organizational Model
• Societal History: Background of the Problem
• Societal Model: The Propositions
• The Methodology of Measuring Systems
• Profit and Nonprofit Accounting--A Unified Approach
• A Review of the Literature
• Empirical Applications of the Model
• Consequences and Implications
• Postscript and Guide to the Literature
• Index