Fülbier Rolf Uwe, Sellhorn Thorsten
Universität Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Germany.
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany.
J Bus Econ. 2023 May 20:1-36. doi: 10.1007/s11573-023-01158-4.
Financial accounting, the core of corporate reporting, is often characterized as the 'language of business'. Over the last roughly 100 years, and using an evolving set of theories, methods, and data, scholarly work in this area has been contributing to our understanding of this language and how to improve it. This paper seeks, first, to characterize the field with a focus on its evolution in the German-speaking area, where, like elsewhere, normative research traditions interested in improving practice have been making way for positivist approaches that seek a detached understanding of 'what is.' Second, we discuss the changing users and institutional parameters that are reshaping corporate reporting, followed by our personal view of 'wicked' societal problems and challenges that corporate reporting might be able to help alleviate. Finally, we discuss directions in which research might evolve in order to address these issues, in order to make corporate reporting more useful for serving not only economic actors, but also society and the environment more broadly.
财务会计作为公司报告的核心，常被视为“商业语言”。在过去约100年里，借助一系列不断发展的理论、方法和数据，该领域的学术研究一直在增进我们对这门语言的理解以及如何对其加以改进。本文首先旨在描述该领域的特征，重点关注其在德语区的发展历程。在德语区，与其他地方一样，旨在改进实务的规范性研究传统正逐渐被实证主义方法所取代，实证主义方法寻求对“实际情况”进行客观理解。其次，我们将讨论正在重塑公司报告的不断变化的用户和制度参数，随后阐述我们对公司报告或许能够帮助缓解的“棘手”社会问题和挑战的个人看法。最后，我们将探讨研究可能朝哪些方向发展以应对这些问题，从而使公司报告不仅对经济行为体更有用，而且对更广泛的社会和环境也更有用。
