the user of financial information means that a single set of normative based policies limits the capa bility of the accounting profession to respond appropriately to all of these demands and needs.5
Thus, within the framework of Kelly Newton's perspective, a basic principle of accounting general purpose reporting would be viewed as erroneous. The general purpose reporting principle holds that a single set of financial statements is simultaneously relevant to the general information needs of __________
4R. N. Anthony, and J. S. Reece, Accounting, Seventh Edition (Homewood, Illinois: Richard D. Irwin, Inc., 1983), p. 3.
5Kelly Newton, pp. 20 23. 3many user groups.6 By contrast, the specific user approach to the development of accounting policy holds that "no one mea surement system is necessarily relevant to a wide range of decision makers."7 General purpose reporting is consistent with the existing normative basis of accounting policy. The adoption of a positive philosophical basis for the development of accounting policies would require a major modification, at the very minimum, of the general purpose reporting concept.
The adoption of normative bases for the development ofaccounting policy implies that some universal truths existwith respect to accounting, regardless of the uses to which accounting data may be applied. This approach to accounting attempts to place the practice in the category of a science.8Although this view of accounting is held by The Committee on Concepts and Standards for External Financial Reports of theAmerican Accounting Association, it is widely disputed.9 K. V.
6Accounting Principles Board, American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Basic Concepts and Accounting Principles Underlying Financial Statements of Business Enter prises, Accounting Principles Board Statement No. 4 (New York: American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Inc., 1970), pp. 19 20.
7L. Revsi...