REASONS, PROBABILITIES, AND ACCOUNTING PRINCIPLES.

The article discusses the idea of an accounting court which will establish authoritative accounting principles and which may tend to demonstrate errors in reasoning. An accounting court is a dubious method of arriving at an acceptable principle, since there are no laws which are to be used as a guide, no method of appealing any verdict, nor any means of changing laws to obtain equity. Since the professed purpose of the court is one of establishing principle it would seem that its function would be more legislative than judicial. The objective of disclosing errors in reasoning is admirable, but when differences in opinions are due to value judgments as to the credibility of a particular reason and, therefore, the probabilities of an assumption, the objective may be impossible to achieve. What might prove useful for the best value judgment of all accountants is an extensive compilation and critical analysis of reasons that have been advanced through the years for the basic assumptions of accounting.