Business and Personal Finance Dictionary

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• POSITIVE ACCOUNTING THEORY
  
  where theorists tend to explain why some accounting practices are more popular than others (e.g., because they increase management compensation). They tend to support their conclusions with inductive theory and empirical evidence as opposed to deductive methods. Generally avoid advocacy of one accounting rule as being better or worse than its alternatives. Positivists are inspired by anecdotal evidence, but anecdotal evidence is never permitted without more rigorous and controlled scientific investigation.
  
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