Objectivity of Accounting Measures: A Multirule-Multimeasurer Approach.

ABSTRACT: This article presents the consensus concept of objectivity and two problems of the concept which never have been addressed adequately: (1) observed objectivity (agreement among different measurers applying the same measurement system) may be spuriously inflated by the consensus inherent on various other combinations of rules and measurers; (2) suggestions for improving objectivity typically focus entirely upon measurement systems and virtually ignore the impact of measurers on objectivity. A framework which enables the investigation of these problems is presented. The suggested framework, a multirule-multimeasurer matrix, is an adaptation of the multitrait-multimethod matrix often used to assess the validity of psychological tests and enables investigation of these problems.