The price change conundrum: teaching beyond the rules

Abstract

The accounting establishment has repeatedly searched for and failed to find logical, equitable mechanisms for dealing with price change effects in financial reporting. While price changes are at the heart of a wide swath of accounting controversies, the dominant US undergraduate accounting textbooks largely ignore this underlying financial reporting conundrum. The body of the paper explores possible reasons why price change issues are being ignored, suggesting that Americans may have a socio-cultural tendency to downplay problems that defy mechanistic solutions. An appendix provides a teaching module designed to encourage syncretic thinking about the underlying causes and effects of inflation or deflation. The teaching module is intended as inspiration for other accounting educators to develop materials for teaching beyond the rules, promoting a deeper understanding of social justice issues imbedded in authoritative standards.