A Statement of Basic Accounting Theory (ASOBAT) in 1966 defined accounting as “the process of identifying, measuring and communicating economic information to permit informed judgments and decision by users of the information.”
Two new ideas arose out of ASOBAT’s definition of accounting. The members of the committee were mainly academics, so they looked upon accounting as an information system. Therefore, they saw communication as an integral part of the accounting process. Additionally, the inclusion of the term economic income broadened the scope of the type of information to be provided to assist in the allocation of scarce resources. The committee also embraced the entity concept by indicating that the purpose of accounting was to allow users to make decisions. In essence they were defining accounting as a behavioral science whose main function was to assist in decision making. As a consequence, the committee adopted a decision-usefulness approach and identified four standards to be used in evaluating accounting information: relevance, verifiability, freedom from bias, and quantifiability. ASOBAT maintained that if these four standards could not be attained, the information was not relevant and should not be communicated.
ASOBAT noted the inherent conflicts between relevance and verifiability in making one final recommendation. The monograph called for the reporting of both historical cost and current cost measures in financial statements. The current cost measures to be used included both replacement cost and price level adjustments.
Some of the famous Accounting test banks:
Accounting for Governmental and Nonprofit Entities,Reck
Accounting Information Systems,Hall,
Accounting Principles,Weygandt,
Advanced Accounting,Hoyle,
Cost Accounting,Horngren,
intermediate accounting , Spiceland,
Introduction to Managerial Accounting,Brewer