The Decision Usefulness Theory of Accounting: A Limited History Book

This book ties together selected contributions by George Staubus to the early development of the decision-usefulness theory of financial accounting-the theory that has become generally accepted accounting theory in the last half of the twentieth century and is the basis for the FASB's conceptual framework. Approximately ninety per cent of the book is reprinted from nine of the author's works spanning the period from 1954 to 1989. The remainder consists of commentaries on the reprinted materials, a summary of the theory, and notes on its acceptance and impact. The reprinted materials were selected to show the historical evolution of the theory. Part I of the book deals with developments in the nineteen-fifties. Part II is devoted to revisions and extensions in the nineteen-seventies, after a decade-long leave of absence from work explicitly devoted to decision-usefulness theory.

Materials reprinted here include the first literature addressing key features of the decision-usefulness theory, such as the decision-usefulness objective, identification of the major users and uses of accounting information, the concept of cash flow potential as the objective of measuring assets and liabilities, the future oriented definitions of asset and liability, the criteria used in evaluating accounting methods, and the array of alternative measurement methods that meet those criteria.