A comment on “Towards a paradigmatic foundation for accounting practice”
Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal
ISSN: 0951-3574
Article publication date: 3 August 2010
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide an analysis of the paper entitled “Towards a paradigmatic foundation for accounting practice” by Nørreklit, Nørreklit and Mitchell as a way to open a debate about whether a “paradigm of accounting practice” exists and, if so, the nature of the methodological approach that would be needed to discover its nature.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper employs a critical, reflective discursive analysis.
Findings
The main finding is that there is a confusion in the paper by Nørreklit et al. about the nature of a “paradigm of accounting practice”, which, if it exists, should be a “skeletal theory” (Laughlin), rather than a methodology. The conclusion of the commentary is that a “paradigm of accounting practice”, using this understanding, might exist, but that Nørreklit et al.'s argument for the use of “pragmatic constructivism”, as a methodology for its discovery, is open to question.
Research limitations/implications
The implication of the argument of this commentary is that the search for “paradigm of accounting practice” is important and should be pursued but the choice of an appropriate methodology for this discovery still needs further consideration.
Originality/value
Nørreklit et al., and this commentary, re‐energise an important debate and concern about paradigms in accounting that was present in the literature in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The search for a “paradigm of accounting practice” and how best it can be discovered is an important consideration for the future development of accounting thought.
Keywords
Citation
Laughlin, R. (2010), "A comment on “Towards a paradigmatic foundation for accounting practice”", Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 23 No. 6, pp. 759-763. https://doi.org/10.1108/09513571011065853
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2010, Emerald Group Publishing Limited