Abstract
Accounting and economics have been described by Boulding (1962) as ‘the uncongenial twins’. They are both concerned with the same raw material, economic activity, but they approach it in very different ways. Each discipline has evolved over several centuries, developing its own concepts, language and culture with remarkably little help from the other. However, there has more recently been an increased interaction between the two disciplines, as the accountant’s horizons have widened from recording to decision-making and the economist has become more concerned with the observation and measurement of economic phenomena in order to test his a priori theories.
This chapter was originally published in The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics, 1st edition, 1987. Edited by John Eatwell, Murray Milgate and Peter Newman
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Whittington, G. (1987). Accounting and Economics. In: The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95121-5_527-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95121-5_527-1
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Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-95121-5
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Latest
Accounting and Economics- Published:
- 13 April 2017
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95121-5_527-2
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Original
Accounting and Economics- Published:
- 18 October 2016
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95121-5_527-1