The Language of the Rochester School: Positive Accounting Theory Deconstructed

This paper critically examines the basic tenets of positive accounting theory. We subject the language of Watts and Zimmerman’s 1986 definition of positive accounting theory to the activity of proof reading, in accordance with Derrida’s concept of deconstruction. We highlight traces of "logocentrism" in the words of the Rochester School and question them on their presuppositions and conclus ions. The description of these discourse characteristics in regard to the audience to which it is addressed mak es it possible to draw theoretical conclusions on the ideological import according to Marx. The article is founded on a review of the critical li terature of accounting, making use explicitly or implicitly of Derrida’s theory of deconstruction.