Andrea Lau
10063324
COMM313-Section 001
Article Summary for Bloomfield Article
In the article “Accounting as the Language of Business”, Bloomfield compares accounting and natural languages to determine three things: the role of standard-setting in accounting, the evolution of accounting standards and practice and the reason why accounting research is so different from teaching accounting.
Bloomfield writes that standard setters are necessary for accounting because these bodies are ubiquitous and binding. In addition, accounting is a non-cooperative type of communication. One characteristic of this type of communication is selective silence, where a topic should not be mentioned unless one will look worse by being silent. Another characteristic is selective obsfucation, where one highlights the positive aspects and tries to bury the negative aspects amongst it. On …show more content…
For example, if a corporation was faced with a lawsuit, it is only reported if it is likely that there will be an economic outflow. Also, if there is no one most probable outcome, only the minimum amount is reported as the liability and the other possibilities of the exposure is buried in the notes of the financial statements. I also think that Bloomfield’s opinion is similar to Karen Wensley’s concern. The maxim of selective obsfucation parallels a corporation’s attempt to be transparent. Corporations disclose as much as necessary to meet legal requirements. At the same time, they try to bury a reader in unnecessary details to hide any negativity about the company. Also, corporations always try to put the best spin on things to make their financial statements look more favourable. An example would be charity organizations who try not to disclose the amount spent on administration. In essence, Bloomfield made an interesting comparison between accounting and natural
10063324
COMM313-Section 001
Article Summary for Bloomfield Article
In the article “Accounting as the Language of Business”, Bloomfield compares accounting and natural languages to determine three things: the role of standard-setting in accounting, the evolution of accounting standards and practice and the reason why accounting research is so different from teaching accounting.
Bloomfield writes that standard setters are necessary for accounting because these bodies are ubiquitous and binding. In addition, accounting is a non-cooperative type of communication. One characteristic of this type of communication is selective silence, where a topic should not be mentioned unless one will look worse by being silent. Another characteristic is selective obsfucation, where one highlights the positive aspects and tries to bury the negative aspects amongst it. On …show more content…
For example, if a corporation was faced with a lawsuit, it is only reported if it is likely that there will be an economic outflow. Also, if there is no one most probable outcome, only the minimum amount is reported as the liability and the other possibilities of the exposure is buried in the notes of the financial statements. I also think that Bloomfield’s opinion is similar to Karen Wensley’s concern. The maxim of selective obsfucation parallels a corporation’s attempt to be transparent. Corporations disclose as much as necessary to meet legal requirements. At the same time, they try to bury a reader in unnecessary details to hide any negativity about the company. Also, corporations always try to put the best spin on things to make their financial statements look more favourable. An example would be charity organizations who try not to disclose the amount spent on administration. In essence, Bloomfield made an interesting comparison between accounting and natural