会计信息标准外文翻译.docVIP

外文文献翻译 原文 Accounting information criteria In recent years, the concept of accounting as an information system has gained wide acceptance. This somewhat subtle change in thinking appears to be affecting the development of accounting theory. A committee of the American Accounting Association recently focused attention on four information—relevance, verifiability, freedom from bias, and quantifiability. These four characteristics were labeled standards, and it was noted that they provide criteria for evaluating potential accounting information. The Committee also recognized the need for , and sought to encourage, further research in various areas of accounting. The purpose of the Committee by attempting to expand on its analysis of financial accounting information. A hierarchy of criteria In this paper it is suggested that there exist numerous criteria which should be used in the selection of financial accounting information. Further, it is suggested that these criteria form a kind of hierarchy. Four levels of the hierarchy are identified in this paper. The one criterion that appears to be applicable to all accounting practices is called the first-level criterion. Other criteria that are more restricted in scope, but which nevertheless are quite broadly applicable, are referred to as second-level criteria. Those with even more restricted applicability are called third-level serves the practical purpose of avoiding arguments about meanings of words that could be assigned to the different levels such as axioms, postulates, principles, standards, and conventions. Usefulness——The first-level criterion As is shown in the ensuing pages, the criterion of usefulness occupies the highest level of the criteria hierarchy, being the only one that is not restricted in its applicability. This statement immediately raises the question, what about truth? Is it not a more powerful criterion than usefulness? In pursuing the development of usefulness as the first-level criterion, it seem