The on-going global financial crisis has led to a new found appreciation of the social, economic and political importance of accounting concepts generally and corporate reporting in particular. This comprehensive, authoritative volume offers students, academics, regulators and practitioners an overview of the current scholarship and practice of this established discipline.

1. Development of Financial Accounting Theory 2. History of Financial Accounting Theory in Britain 3. Financial Accounting and Reporting in the United States of America: 1820-2010, Toward the sunshine from the shadows 4. Evolution of Early Practice Descriptive Theory in Accounting 5. Accounting and the Decision Usefulness Framework 6. Price Variation and Inflation Accounting Research 7. Standard Setting, Politics and Change Management: A personal perspective 8. International Differences in IFRS Adoptions and IFRS Practices 9. Fair Value and the Great Financial Crisis 10. Fair Value and IFRS 11. Valuation Models: An issue of accounting theory 12. Earnings Management: Implications and controversies13. Agency Theory: Usefulness and implications for financial accounting 14. Disclosure and the Cost of Capital: A survey of the theoretical literature 15. A Bayesian Understanding of Information Uncertainty and the Cost of Capital 16. Controlling for Risk in Accounting Research17. Financial Measurement and Financial Markets 18. Social Theorisation of Accounting: Challenges to Positive Research 19. True and Fair, A Business Ethos 'Par Excellence' 20. Accounting for the Carbon Challenge 21. Corporate Sustainability Reporting: Theory and practice