The language of the Rochester School : positive accounting theory deconstructed

This paper critically examines the basic tenets of positive accounting theory (PAT). We subject the language of Watts and Zimmerman’s 1986 definition of PAT to the activity of proof reading, in accordance with Derrida’s concept of deconstruction. We highlight traces of "logocentrism" in the language of the Rochester School and question them on their presuppositions and conclusions. Also, our analysis of their discourse reveals how it was written to please the audience to whom it was addressed. This allows us to critique the ideological status of PAT from a Marxian viewpoint. In the paper we also review the critical literature in accounting, making use explicitly and implicitly of Derrida’s theory of deconstruction