On Taxonomy and Accounting Research.

Abstract This article is concerned with the systematic arrangement of concepts, for which tentative definitions and provisional symbols are needed to communicate. Classification is the primary intellectual activity of man, older even than girlwatching. Quantification is secondary. The major task in setting up any kind of taxonomy is that of selecting appropriate symbols, giving them precise and usable definitions, and securing the consensus of the group which is to use them. Classes may be nominal only, but the taxons must be ordered, so that an alpha class includes two or more beta classes. The usual treatment of "class and subclass" is not sufficient because the ordered levels of generality are essential to a rigorous and complete classification. One notable exception to the general neglect and the conspicuous absence of innovative inquiry by accountants into the classification problem is the work in accounting theory by Eldon Hendriksen. His classification of "approaches to accounting theory" is a novel contribution to literature.