This paper reviews and critiques the positive accounting literature following publication of
Watts and Zimmerman (1978, 1979). The 1978 paper helped generate the positive …

(Chapter 1). Their view is that: Economics, which has achieved international recognition for
its dissemination of the type of empirical studies which they advocate. It is also the case that …

Positive accounting research consists of tests of positive accounting theory; it is a substantial
body of important accounting literature. The discussion in this paper is aimed at …

One theoretical approach recently emphasized in the accounting literature is positive
accounting theory. Synonymous with this theoretical view are the 1978 and 1979 articles …

Positive accounting theory, using the book of the same name by Watts and Zimmerman
(1986) as the primary source of information about that theory, is subjected to scrutiny. The …

Abstract Watts and Zimmerman's Positive Accounting Theory provides a refreshing,
controversial and important contribution to accounting thought. It is important because of its …

Watts and Zimmerman's Positive Accounting Theory (1986) is by all accounts a very
successful book. It presents a history of the evolution of the positive research movement in …

This book reviews the theory and methodology underlying the economics-based empirical
literature in accounting. An accounting theory theory is an explanation for observed …

Positive accounting theory is claimed to be explanatory of accounting practice; a scientific,
empirical, economics‐based theory. These claims are examined severally, and in significant …

Jensen, Watts and Zimmerman (referred to hereafter, following Jensen [1976], as" the
Rochester School of Accounting") have charged that most accounting theories are" …