Legacy of the Golden Age: Recent Developments in the Methodology of Accounting

It is often suggested in the accounting literature that there was a distinct change in the methodology employed by accounting theorists/researchers around 1970. Nelson (1973) has referred to the 1960s as the ‘golden age in the history of a priori research in accounting’. Since then, some have claimed a more scientific empirical methodology has been used. However, there are distinct similarities in the methodological presuppositions in both periods and it is argued in this paper that contemporary researchers have a debt to the ‘golden age’ theorists for introducing the requirement of a rigorous standard of argument for effective and reliable accounting knowledge.