In her 1988 article called ‘Financial Accounting: In Communicating Reality, We Construct Reality’, Ruth Hines argues that accountants have a hidden power:
“We create a picture of an organization, or the ‘economy’, whatever you like, and based on that picture (not some underlying ‘real’ reality of which no-one is aware), people think and act. And by responding to that picture of reality, they make it so: it becomes ‘real in its consequences”.
REQUIRED:
In your own words, describe Ruth Hines’ argument and explain what this tells us about the fundamental limitations of financial accounting. (800 words)