The Decline of Substance over Form in Accounting

Dov Fischer; Ortal Ellman; Sholom Schochet

doi:10.1515/ael-2019-0052

The Decline of Substance over Form in Accounting

Dov Fischer^*, Ortal Ellman, Sholom Schochet

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

"Substance over form"is a traditional accounting maxim that has also influenced legal thinking and has its roots in classical philosophy. "Substance over form"states that accountants do not record transactions based on the outward form of the transaction but discern its economic substance and report accordingly. Nevertheless, "substance over form"has been deemphasized by the FASB's conceptual framework in recent decades, to the point that an internal debate now rages over whether accountants and auditors have a right and responsibility to put substance over form. FASB must therefore make its position clear on where it stands in this debate.

Original language	American English
Pages (from-to)	373-390
Number of pages	18
Journal	Accounting, Economics, and Law: A Convivium
Volume	13
Issue number	3
Early online date	Apr 27 2021
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1515/ael-2019-0052
State	Published - Aug 2023
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 CONVIVIUM, association loi de 1901.

ASJC Scopus Subject Areas

Accounting
Economics, Econometrics and Finance (miscellaneous)
Law

Keywords

conceptual framework
faithful representation
substance over form

Access to Document

10.1515/ael-2019-0052

Cite this

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The Decline of Substance over Form in Accounting

Abstract

Bibliographical note

ASJC Scopus Subject Areas

Keywords

Access to Document

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