Impact of Social Change Agents on Accounting Development: A Critical Review

Kabiru Isa Dandago, Koholga Ormin 
(1. School of Accountancy, College of Business, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Malaysia;
2. Department of Accounting, Adamawa State University, Mubi-Nigeria)

Abstract: The quality of accounting is dependent on its environment. Accounting principles, procedures and practices are consensus issues rather than laws fashioned according to environmental needs to ensure relevance and usefulness of the information produced for decision making. Accounting, therefore, is an evolutionary process of changing social and economic trends. This paper examines the impact of social change agents on accounting development. The paper is a library research thus content analysis was adopted. A critical review of available literature revealed, among others, that social changes had impacted greatly on accounting development, and as rightly observed by Gluatier and Underdown (1986), social changes that will arise in the future will still have much influence to exert as to what accounting will be. It was concluded that the force of social change has greatly shaped what today constitute accounting principles, procedures and practices; greatly altered and expanded the objective and scope of accounting and significantly impinged the content and presentation of financial statements and the attitude and conduct of accounting professionals in discharging their accounting tasks. Based on the findings, the paper calls on accounting standards setting bodies, accounting professional bodies and accountants in general, at the international and local levels, to be more aware of the changing nature of accounting in the light of social changes, and hence respond appropriately so that accounting may better serve the needs of users and the society in general.

Key words: social change; accounting; accounting standards; accounting development

JEL code: M41