This short article, in addition to illustrating the way of superimposing the methodology of structuralism to the construction of a Scientific Theory, applicable in all the knowledge of the social sciences, seeks to show partial preliminary results of the investigation about a possible harmonization of the Accounting Neopatrimonialism doctrine with the accounting practice officially recognized in Colombia, in light of the important conceptual advances achieved by this doctrine of Brazilian origin, which has earned it significant support from the scientific accounting community around the world.
Abstract
This brief issue, in addition to illustrate how to overcome the methodology of structuralism applied to the construction of a scientific theory, as in all knowledge of social science, tries to find some preliminary results about a possible partial harmonization of the doctrine of Neopatrimonialismo accounting with respect to the accounting practice officially recognized in Colombia, in light of the important conceptual advances made by this Brazilian doctrine, which has earned strong support from the accounting scientific community throughout the world.
Introduction
Accounting has become a complex matter in which a heuristic accounting praxis coexists with an economic conceptualization underpinned by a legal scheme. In reality, the accounting discipline maintains its validity by virtue of its permanent mutations, adapting to changes in the environment, without conceptual clarity about what its formal and material object is, much less about its possible scientific nature.
Accounting scholars have approached the most diverse postulates of other disciplines trying to outline a true accounting object, however, until now, it has not been possible to nucleate a consensus of professionals in the field around a common conceptual framework, with laws fundamental, capable of supporting a General Theory of Accounting. Nor have attempts to share scientific concepts and universal behaviors of the discipline have exceeded the strong political influence that supports the accounting practice standardized by professionals and transnational firms in developed countries.
The doctrine of Neopatrimonialism
In the accounting discipline, the works of the Brazilian Antonio López de Sá (1987 and 1997) stand out, who conceived Accounting based on the systemic nature of man's relations with heritage and based on the rigor of the philosophy of science
According to the doctrine of Accounting Neopatrimonialism, before wealth materializes, it is of its nature to exist in the human mind and when it appears, in fact, in its logical thinking, man always describes it subject to circumstances that establish limitations and generate aspects passive observation on it. This is the primary reason for this new doctrine to come to consider as its starting point, the study of the logical relationships between which the active phenomenon of the flow of wealth is generated, fully and constantly satisfying human needs.
It is difficult to understand the patrimonial phenomenon of economic units if one does not seek to understand the circulation of wealth as a factor of transformation. Neopatrimonialism seeks to measure the vitality of organizations according to the period elapsed from investing to disinvesting, or in other words, by the temporary nature of working capital.
And there is no doubt, when patrimonial prosperity reaches every social cell we will be referring to a prosperous nation and, when this had happened in all countries, we could say that global well-being is a reality. The Public Accountants have the great task of helping in the search for the balance of nations and cooperating, through professional action, to transmit the general well-being that should guide all companies and institutions.
From the point of view of Neopatrimonialism, the universe of means capable of satisfying human needs is called heritage. Along these lines, Accounting studies the patrimonial phenomena of the "social cell". The social cell differs from the concept of the “economic entity” in that in the latter the accounting information is limited to business activities, while in the social cell, external influences are also measured. The hacienda is the unit in which the phenomena of production, distribution and consumption are carried out and whose purpose is to obtain a certain economic balance that tends to prevail over time. The patrimonial phenomena are all and any events that occur in the wealth of the estate.Heritage phenomena are natural when they arise from the need of men and are extraordinary or unnatural when they arise from accidental or unforeseen events.
Methodology
In the last decades, the structuralist program of reconstruction of theories, has allowed to approach the explanation or the problem of the terms of some new Formal Theory of Science, starting from both pragmatic and formalized conceptions, using the method of " axiomatization ”, supported by elementary means of set theory.
The composition that is chosen for the axioms is considered by structuralism as a relatively secondary matter and rather, what must come to the fore is the conceptualization and the list of semantic principles. Thus, the syntactic analysis of an axiomatization hardly becomes a heuristic means that provides an adequate reconstruction of particular theories.
In his work “General Theory of Accounting Knowledge, Professor López de Sá, starts from the principle that heritage is always in a constant and changing transformation. Here, heritage must satisfy the need for human endeavors by operating effectively.
With these two basic premises, we can build the first two axioms of Neopatrimonialist Accounting: Transformation (Tp) and Efficiency (Ea).
|
Potential Model "Tp" |
Real Model "Ea" |
| 1- The Heritage does not move by itself | 1- The patrimonial Purpose is the Efficacy |
| 2- Heritage tends to movement | 2- Efficacy is the satisfaction of the need |
| 3- The movement implies heritage transformation | 3- Constant effectiveness brings prosperity |
| 4- All Transformation causes change in assets | 4- The Functions meet objectives and are grouped into systems |
| 5- All heritage change involves essential logical, dimensional and environmental relationships | 5- The systems are more autonomous when it is the most interactive function |
The structures of axiomatic, non-propositional entities, which in this table we have called the “Tp” Potential Model, will play the complex role that constitutes the conceptual framework of the theory under construction. Meanwhile, the structures with content capable of satisfying the genuine laws of the theory, we have called the Real Model "Ea". Obviously Ea Tp
The formal structural nucleus of the Neopatrimonialist Theory, in the composition that we have proposed here, must be symbolized by: K = <Tp, Ea>, whose identity corresponds to the following three contrasting structures:
- Heritage has its origin in human and natural necessity in an essential logical relationship in sequence: the Necessity of the Treasury (n) generates the Finality (fi) and it only manifests itself by seeking the Patrimonial Medium (m), which exercises the Capacity (c) that produces the Patrimonial Function (f), from the initiation of the provision or substitution of the Purpose, determining the Patrimonial Efficiency (Ea). Necessity (n) and purpose (fi) arise in the human mind, while patrimonial means (m) and functions (f) are materializations that refer to wealth. Efficiency (Ea) will only exist, if and only if, the need is completely satisfied.The formal structural nucleus of each theory is usually linked to the nuclei of other theories through the following logical dimensional relationships: cause, effect, time, space,quality quantity. Thus, the Theory of Neopatrimonialism is made up of a set of theories. For each essential relationship there is an associated dimensional relationship, which allows the formulation of various logical statements leading to countless specific studies. There is, therefore, in this theory, more than one cause of necessity, as many as there are causes of purpose, means, and functions. Likewise, there are effects of necessity as effects of finality and so on. The hacienda is a continent of social cells (families, companies, institutions, etc.) whose sum of assets shapes social wealth. There is supposed to be a cascade reaction between stakeholders:the cell benefits the organism that contains it and in turn the cell and the container organism benefit the body of which they are part; in the same way, external agents act on the heritage and use it. There are therefore logical environmental relationships that receive and capture influences from their environments. The heritage contained in social cells is reached by all the environments that it reaches.
Results
The patrimonial functions
The core of the Neopatrimonialist theory is linked to the core of the systematic theory of patrimonial functions. The patrimonial functions are the actions that enforce the objectives of satisfying the various types of needs that arise in the hacienda environment. Asset function systems are distinguished by the purpose and characteristics of their components. Neopatrimonialism establishes eight (8) major groups of purposes, hierarchized in three major modes of participation:
- Basic Subsystems of the Patrimonial Functions, of original nature regarding the circulation and revitalization processes of the same functions, and classified as:
Universal effectiveness is thus a complex of functional participations in which all systems move simultaneously but with autonomous purposes. In addition, each system has its speed or time in which the function is completed and the alteration of the circulatory speed of one system can cause the alteration of the speed in another. For example, delaying the sale of certain inventory can lead to liquidity inefficiencies but could improve the effectiveness of profitability and productivity.
Conclusions
In each unit of production, capital assumes specific performances, for which reason, it could not be correct or scientific to give the same meaning for the analysis of the behavior of heritage, when each unit of production is confronted in isolation, as for the purposes of study together, in which case it becomes very necessary to examine the relative efficiencies. When we take, for example, the behaviors of the patrimonial functions of a certain group of subsidiaries, it is of great importance to choose a measure compatible with the meaning that it may have in each social cell, we must convert them into an equivalent unit, to that graphically or visually we can comparatively observe each production area.
Take for example the Liquidity function, whose purpose is to pay on time and the effect of such function is measured according to the confrontation between the Average Equity (Pm) and the Necessity Equity (Pn), leading to the Resultant (R = Pm / Pn). However, it is not that simple, there is a direct relationship between the circulation and the vitality of a company or institution, which could be expressed according to the theorem “Transformation (Tp) implies Efficiency (Ea) or Inefficiency (Ea-1) because tends to alter the functional capacity contained in an average Heritage (Pm) ”.
In other words, if the accounting analysis were only the comparison between needs (as liabilities) and means (as available), when we are dealing with a particular case in which the Average Equity (Pm) component was greater than the Equity component necessity (Pn), then it would be necessary to admit a tendency of the patrimonial excess to remain without function (f) and to become inertial (Pme). That is, everything that is invested more than necessary would tend to be without function, which turns out to be just a fallacy, an abstraction, because in reality, the heritage medium could never be considered statically isolated from environmental influence.
It could happen that in another certain business situation we came to verify the existence of an effective loss (PeEa), further inquiring, we could come to establish that this would only be possible, if and only if, a referred loss (Pex) would result in a future element (Rex) that comes to represent an increase in value in the company and that makes it possible, not only to cancel the momentary reduction, but to overcome it.
What has been said so far is that the important thing about the accounting fact is not the static record, but rather the knowledge about the changes in capital caused by the equity phenomenon. Therefore, it is not enough to have the information, but the most important thing is to understand it and use it for the benefit of business.
Great Axioms and Theorems of the Patrimonial Theory
The great merit of the General Theory of Accounting Knowledge has been to offer a logical sequence of reasons ordered analogously to that of the natural sciences, considering a basic core of knowledge, from which other axioms and theorems are derived, such as the following:
- Axiom of Perfect Interaction: If a system of patrimonial functions provokes the efficacy of another, it also receives from the other, patrimonial means to improve its own efficacy, thus establishing a perfect systematic interaction. Axiom of Social Prosperity: When the sum of the The effectiveness of the patrimonies implies the rational prosperity of all the social cells, in a regime of harmonious interaction, this will also imply social prosperity, equivalent to the total satisfaction of the material needs of humanity.Axiom of the Social Prosperity of the Cells: The efficiency and constant patrimonial elasticity of cells brings prosperity to social cells.
Theorems must present verifiable realities under certain conditions. The patrimonial phenomena are so many that each battery of theorems necessarily corresponds to the preference of the corresponding scholar who presents them.
- Relevance Theorem: In the search for the systematic heritage effectiveness, a relevant function must reduce or annul another less relevant, directly due to the need and inversely due to the time required by the most relevant one. The most relevant function is that which solves the greatest needs in the shortest possible time. Circulatory Speed Theorem: The greater the speed of the patrimonial means and the less the needs for own resources, the less the risks of the inflows. Whoever sells for 15 days of credit and must pay a 30-day term will not depend on their own resources to operationalize their businesses.Perfect Prosperity Theorem: When in a regime of perfect interaction between the potentialities of the media and the needs, a constant elasticity,perfect patrimonial prosperity is said to take place. If a company accumulates profit on profit, in a constant way, prosperity reaches its perfection. Full Function Theorem: If, in front of each pertinent need, the quantitative expression of value is compatible with the qualitative expression of the means, it is said to exist full functionality. Fixed assets may appear at very high values in the balance sheet, but if they were surpassed by other assets of the same kind, we are surely facing an obsolescence picture. Failing to meet the needs of price formation in a competitive market, may have been an obstacle to qualify the company in full functionality. Definition Theorem:Constant ineffectiveness in basic systems must promote the functional death of social cells. If a company accumulates inefficiencies, the results tend to reduce liquidity, consume its own capital and, therefore, an imbalance that loses vitality and anticipates death.
The Social Balance
The doctrine of Accounting Neopatrimonialism focuses its attention on the vitality of the social cell and tends to direct its research towards measuring the contribution of economic units to the general well-being of the human being, through improvement in the preparation of the Social Balance. The Social Balance is the aggregation of the environmental circulatory phenomena of the social cell contributed through the payments that have been made for the instruction of the personnel, social assistance, natural environment, to the employees, to the banks, to the government, to shareholders, etc.
In reality, the effort of Neopatrimonialism has not been so in vain, since in 1998, the Municipality of Porto Alegre, of the State of Rio Grande do Sul, published Law 8118 that required the companies located in that municipality to present the Social Balance. There, the Social Balance must clearly demonstrate, which policies practiced and which their reflections in the patrimony, demonstrate their participation in the process of social evolution.
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