On the Asset-Liability, Revenue-Expense Tension in Financial Accounting

Recent comments on the FASB preference for the asset-liability focus in its conceptual framework motivate this historical perspective on the early accounting tension between it and the alternative revenue-expense focus. The commentary identifies and reviews significant pre-1980s studies indicative of focus preference and finds pre-FASB lack of consensus on the issue. The commentary concludes that this lack of consensus will continue in the absence of a coherent body of abstract knowledge that is capable of giving professional authority to mandated accounting standards.