Influences of Economic Theories on Accounting Theory: the case of the Objective Function of the Firm

Abstract

This essay aims to establish the relationship between the theoretical precepts that guide the accounting disclosure procedures for its stakeholders, both internal and external, and the two main theoretical trends that address the firm’s objective function: the Shareholder theory and the Stakeholder theory. In the perspective of the Shareholder theory, the firm has to define a single objective, which is to maximize shareholder wealth. In the context of Stakeholders theory, the firm must establish a multiple objective, which is to meet the interests of all those involved with its activities. We discuss to what extent theories, standards and accounting practices emanate from the concepts of the two models, especially regarding the users’ demand for useful and relevant information. There is a predominance of Shareholder theory in influencing accounting principles that guide the disclosure of information, although different accounting reports are already discussed and presented, oriented to the Stakeholders of the firm, without establishing a set of concepts that explain and justify them within the scope of Accounting theory. Additionally, it is argued that, all things taken into consideration, both currents of the Economic theory point in the same direction: to seek the wellbeing of the firm’s stakeholders. The research contributes to the accounting literature, in the sense of clarifying the impacts arising from the two economic models that deal with the objective function of the firm in the evolution of Accounting theory, not yet captured directly in the discussion of the fundamentals of accounting theory.