The Behavioral Approach to Accounting Theory

This paper has elaborated on the meanings and important findings of behavioral approach to the formulation of an accounting theory. The behavioral approach is concerned with human behavior, pertaining to accounting information and problems. There for, The choice of an accounting technique must be evaluated with reference to the objectives and behavior of the users of financial information. The implicit objective of most of the behavioral accounting studies is to develop and to verify the behavioral hypotheses relevant to accounting theory. The hypotheses on the adequacy of disclosure, the usefulness offinancial statements data, attitudes about corporate reporting practices, materiality Judgments, the decision affects of alternative accounting procedures, and the components of an information processing model. This implicit objective has not yet been reached, however, because most of the accounting research suffers from a lack of theoretical rigor. Studies are made to examine the use of surrogates in behavioral accounting research though, with no conclusive results.