Information Economics and Accounting Measurement: A Blueprint for Scholarly Research

Abstract

In this essay, we wish to make a single, simple argument. That is, if information problems are the primary root of the accounting problems, then modern information economics should be the center of accounting research. In making this argument, we plan to first revisit a somewhat elementary accounting question. Using the question as a spring-board, we retrace the rise of information economics in the accounting discipline. Finally, we argue that to answer similarly posed questions, accounting theory needs a (modern) information-economics core. It also needs to build accounting measurement structure based on the core. Such an accounting theory, hopefully, connects with the existing framework of accounting practice at a fundamental level and ought to guide accounting research, education, and policy-making