ABSTRACT
Australia has a very long history when it comes to interest in accounting for value. Although it dabbled with constant purchasing power proposals momentarily in the 1970s, its stronger interest lay, from the 1950s, with various forms of current value accounting. A vibrant academe explored the area intensively, with Professors R.L. Matthews, R.S. Gynther, R.J. Chambers, F.K. Wright, A.D. Barton and other senior academics ensuring there was no dearth of competing theories and learned texts. 1 This exploration set the scene for the period from 1974 to 1983 when the whole profession and other interested parties were enveloped in a debate that promised to jettison historical cost in favour of current value. That debate was not confined to Australia; to varying degrees it took in the US, the UK, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa, the Netherlands, France and others. 2
