Accounting, Evaluation and Economic Behavior

During the 1960s and 1970s a remarkable series of books was produced by academic staff in the field of accounting at the University of Sydney.

It was a period when academic research was largely analytical rather than empirically-based. For the most part, the interests of academics at Sydney were largely directed at questioning the status quo – either in the way accounting or auditing was practiced, or in the conventional wisdom expressed in textbooks of the time.

The Sydney Accounting Classics series reflects the diversity of interests of the 'Sydney school' at that time. It also recognises the tremendous impact of the foundation professor of accounting, R.J. Chambers. This reprint series ensures that the ideas developed during this period remain available to new generations of scholars and researchers.

The Sydney Accounting Classics series is an initiative of the Accounting Foundation, in association with Sydney University Press.

Accounting Evaluation and Economic Behavior:
This book has been referred to as Chambers' magnum opus, a meticulously researched and argued work describing a framework for accounting practice. This reprint edition opens the way for a new generation of researchers and scholars to read Chambers' work.

Raymond J. Chambers was the foundation chair of accounting at the University of Sydney from 1960 until his retirement in 1983. He was widely acknowledged as one of the leading academic contributors to the study of accounting. He passed away in 1999.

Foreword to series
Preface
Introduction

1. Individual thought and action
2. Ends and means
3. The environment of action
4. Monetary calculation
5. Financial position
6. The formal framework of accounting
7. Information and information processing
8. Communication
9. Trading ventures
10. Accounting for trading ventures
11. Corporate business
12. Financial communication within organizations
13. Service and governmental organizations
14. A theory of the development of accounting practices

Epilogue
Index of names
Subject index

‘This book is a milestone in the development of accounting theory from the point of view of its methodology as much as from the conclusions reached. ... This book is recommended for study by all who are interested in the development of accounting thought and by those interested in financial and managerial decisions or in the fruits of an interdisciplinary study.’ – Review of the 1966 edition published by Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Eldon S. Hendriksen   The Journal of Business