Towards a dialectical interpretation of the contemporary mode of capitalist accounting

Abstract

Abstract This paper seeks to apply the Hegelian and Marxian dialectic to the interpretation of the present mode of capitalist financial accounting in its totality; as a unified mode of its particularities and universalities. The paper considers that whereas the recent changes in the conceptual framework and standards of accounting seem to be an entire transformation of capitalist accounting from traditional cost based accounting to advanced value based accounting, the general concept of accountability, the essence of the archetype of capitalist double-entry system, and the determination of accounting from the circulation of capital have been underlying the present mode of capitalist accounting. This paper also argues that the contradiction of accounting recognition or profit calculation inherent in the present mode of capitalist accounting corresponds to the contradiction in the contemporary mode of capitalist economy: the split of the investment of the enterprise’s capital into productive and non-productive assets, and the split of investors into those who solely deal with securities or fictitious capital and those who invest in productive capital by way of shareholding.