Italian Accounting of the Late 19th Century and the Early 20th Century on the Epistemological Problem of Connections with Related Sciences

This paper takes into consideration the doctrinal positions that are taken by Italian accounting in the period between the 19th and the 20th century, and concerns the nature of relationships between accounting and its most similar sciences, particularly economics. Over those years, the scholars in that field started to show a peculiar epistemological sensitivity. Spurred by the philosophical debate which was raised by positivism and particularly by Comte's and Spencer's studies, researchers wondered whether the most appropriate place for accounting was in the large field of social sciences. Hence, two different epistemological approaches arose with one succeeding the other in time. Initially, scholars accepted the idea that accounting somehow depended on its related sciences, which included economics. They deemed it convenient to use, also for their own purposes, principles drawn from contiguous doctrines that had already been scientifically recognized, such as economics. That was how Italian accounting happened to be, even though temporarily, in a position of “scientific subjection” with respect to the mentioned doctrines. At the second stage, due to the awareness of the specific subject and the method of investigation, as well as the purposes, Italian accounting claimed its own scientific autonomy, so scholars went back to the first phase and considered it necessary to develop internal principles and rules as a function of its peculiar needs. By doing so, scholars mapped out a route that would deeply mark the future of the discipline by making it fully independent on other fields of knowledge in a sort of emancipation process. The paper will not only describe the two theoretical positions which are summarized above, but will also adopt an interpretative approach to trace their possible causes and to grasp their effects on the development of the discipline, particularly with regards to the theories of value which is adopted by the Italian accounting over the analyzed period. In the authors' opinion, the attention paid by the most authoritative Italian accounting scholars to the epistemological theme of relationships between accounting and its similar sciences can be explained by at least two different causes: The influence which is exercised by the philosophical studies and the aspiration of accounting for scientific and academic recognition