University of the Valley Palmira headquarters

Faculty of Administration Sciences

Public Accounting academic program
Palmyra
November 2017
Anny Melissa Grueso González
Code 1554680

THE NOBILITY OF ACCOUNTING

PROTOCOL 2
This text has been conceived from the thoughts of Professor Gerhard G. Mueller 1 ,
author of the lecture, The Nobility of Accounting , which maintains that accounting
has contributed for centuries to both the discipline and the profession, since if it did
not produce a net national social benefit, it would literally have been suppressed
long ago. In this sense, Mueller structures its content in four parts; Firstly, it
exposes the “nobility oblige” left by historical events that have marked accounting
progress in the last 175 years, then it points out the different ways in which
accounting has contributed to the evolution of accounting knowledge and how it
has responded to the environmental changes. Finally, it expresses the relationship
that has been forged between accounting and culture, seeking to respond with the
above to the question: How far have we come in the accumulation of knowledge?
That's it, Mueller2 proposes ten points that have contributed to the accumulation of
accounting knowledge and that implicitly explain its sustained increase in recent
centuries. As a first measure, the beginning of simple double-entry accounting and
its evolution to sophisticated financial accounting and management information is
recognized, the second point is due to the advance in the valuation of assets,
followed by “a similar knowledge that occurred between the first valuation of
wealth, almost entirely based on the cash principle, and the current measurement
of profit.”3 Mueller's fourth proposition mentions the accounting evolution from the
judgment of the theory, followed by the idea where he describes Accounting as an
academic discipline that today exists as universal, which has brought teaching and
research programs to institutions. accountant. The sixth evidence is the proposed
changes in the methods, going from arithmetic content to analytical and
probabilistic content. Subsequently, the disciplinary stance assumed by accounting
1
MUELLER, G. The nobility of Accounting. Madrid: Spanish Association of Accounting and
Business Administration. 1994, p. 14.
2
Ibid., p. 16
3
Ibid., p. 17
is discussed, where the basis of its nature associated with accounting knowledge is
expanded, thus generating an epistemic change in it, advancing from the financial
to the managerial. On the contrary, the eighth point proposes an ontological
change from the nature of accounting knowledge, leading accounting to be
experienced multi, trans and interdisciplinary. What triggers as a ninth position in a
prospective view of accounting knowledge that is ultimately integrated into
computerized information systems.
On the other hand, the author4 highlights the human condition, in addition to the
key social and contextual elements for the maturation and accumulation of
accounting knowledge. For this reason, it presents ten arguments why accounting
has been important for humanity. Among which it exposes: The international
orientation, the transition from creditors to the Capital Market, the orientation to
public service, showing the adaptability with the transition from private to
commercial accounting, the social conscience in the discipline from what is called
Green Accounting, the change of approach to accounting, administrative training
(Training), development of new analytical tools, incorporation of computers into the
accounting discipline, educational tension, values and role of the professional and
in conclusion emphasizes the practice of Accounting learning to understand how to
tolerate change. Understanding the reciprocal relationship that the discipline has
with the context, not only academic but also cultural, thinking of culture as an
“abstraction of a concrete behavior, but not of the behavior itself.” 5 . In this sense
"Accounting has fulfilled its "Nobility Obligates", that is, it has fulfilled its obligation
to be honorable and generous"6 .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Mueller, G. The nobility of accounting . Madrid: Spanish Association of Accounting

and Business Administration. 1994. 43 p.

4
Ibid., p. 22
5
Ibid., p. 32
6
Ibid., p. 14