Introduction

The history of CFA ideas has taken a strange twist in recent times. The progression has not been entirely Kuhnian – at least in terms of the normal sequence to be predicted. CFA ideas obviously have some attraction to accounting policy-makers and standard-setters. For example, in 1975, at an early stage in the development of theoretical ideas in CFA, the Sandilands committee (1975) on inflation accounting reviewed CFA as a possible solution to the ills of conventional accounting. However, although it saw merit in the idea for liquidity, it saw none for profitability, and recommended further development.