ABSTRACT
The fi nancial statements play a passive role in the quest for distributive justice, when their function is limited to reporting a fi rm’s actions. With the passive role, it is not considered that the function of the accounts is to infl uence directly the fi rm’s future actions. Rather their function is to report past and present facts; hence the term, the reporting function. With the reporting function, the accountant is a record keeper or chronicler, akin to a historian, although, like a good historian, she may also interpret the facts that she reports. This chapter analyses the contribution that the accounts play in assisting the fi rm to achieve distributive justice, when their function is limited to reporting.
