On countless occasions we have heard that accounting is an eminently factual science. That it is an activity whose main objective is to record "facts." Like those that occur in the field of socioeconomic entities. A simple look at the history of this discipline, allows us to discover that indeed those who support these arguments are not wrong at all, since to account for and reason for the entity's heritage, accounting, must still record all those "facts ”, Which in one way or another affect said heritage.
The "facts" that accounting deals with are called "accounting facts", and they are all those events that positively or negatively affect the assets of economic entities. This aspect, in correlation with the object of study of accounting, defines the "accounting fact" as that omnipresent reality, which serves as the fundamental source and starting point of said science.
Despite the omnipresence of the "accounting fact", accounting scholars do not stop in their works to substantiate and explain its nature and significance. Most authors ignore the concept in their treatises, and accounting operators and academics (accountants) do the same in their work, which contributes together with many other omissions in the current doctrine, so that lay people and experts perceive accounting as an activity devoid of all philosophical content.
In order to contribute to the development of the accounting philosophy, we outline via the following lines, the value of the "accounting fact" as the primary unit of accounting, not without first, obviously, parked to explain the "fact" as reality, its classification and the best known meanings of the word.
Regarding the first point, Roque García (1965) illustrates that “after the word being, which is the word par excellence, the voices made and thing are, without dispute, the most universal in the entire language”. The author points out, in his work “Synonyms and Antonyms”, that “Everything that exists is one thing. Everything he does, everything he works, everything that moves, is a fact ”. In this sense, an idea becomes a fact of intelligence. Emotion, a fact of feeling. The human sensation, a fact of organic sensitivity. A stimulus of the conscience, it is a moral fact. The artistic manifestations come to be made of fantasy. Like any physical substance, it is a fact of nature.
Regarding the meaning of the notion of "fact", Ferrater Mora refers that it has been interpreted in different ways and following different orientations. It says, for example based on factum which is the Latin root of the word, we must understand by "fact" something that is actually fulfilled and its existence cannot be denied. From which it follows that the word "fact" also means the principle of the true, meaning that Kant would have assumed, to consider physics in his philosophy as a "fact of nature", whose omnipresence, he considers sufficient to justify it epistemologically.
According to Ferrater Mora himself, the equivalent of factum in other languages, such as: Tatsache, res gesta, Sachverhalt, fact, matter of fac, etc., has given rise to a wide plurality of meanings and a diversity of classifications of the "fact". Along these lines, Roque García agrees when he says that of the multiple classifications of "fact", the most widely accepted is the one that classifies "fact" as "natural fact" and "cultural fact". The "natural fact" is in García's opinion, the work of nature, the one that comes from her, is the "fact" that is not human. On the other hand, the “cultural fact” –said this same author-, “is specified to man, to everything that man does, without qualifying it in any sense, without expressing that it is good or bad, false or true, fair or unfair. "
In common practice, "facts" are often confused with phenomena, events, actions, or acts. It should be clarified that both acts, such as actions, events and phenomena are temporary, isolated and inconsequential. Instead, the "fact" is generic, universal and omnipresent. It is the "timeless doing" par excellence. For which reason, "facts" are considered the primary objects of praxis, which in the opinion of Germán Peinador Martín, "come to be the starting point for speculation, and the empirical, scientific or philosophical treatment of reality."
Judging by their nature, the "facts" are radically opposed to everything that means notion, idea or theory; However, in the scientific field "facts" and theories make up an indivisible symbiotic unit, where the former contribute to this unit, the world's data and the latter formulate and conform the ideal structures that allow discovering, explaining and predicting the "facts" of a certain area or portion of the cosmos.
In this context, there are those who, using the Theory of Evolution (Darwin) and the Law of Universal Gravitation (Newton) as an example, argue that some theories such as those enunciated, have come via time, to become "true facts". It should be clarified that arguments of this type are of no value, since theories are finite, perishable and permeable, while the "facts" are immutable, continuous and recurrent (omnipresent). Consequently, a theory even interpreting the most transcendent "facts" would never mean a "fact" in itself, since nothing and nobody assures that the brilliant theory of today ends up as the geocentric theory (Ptolemy), that one day he collapsed at the feet of Copernicus.
The "fact" is therefore the central aspect of all science. Its validity consists in that it serves to circumscribe the object of study of each scientific discipline. For this reason there are two concepts of "fact", as science also exist. The "mathematical fact" in the field of formal sciences; the "anthropological fact", the "economic fact" and the "legal fact" in the social sciences, as well as the "chemical fact" in the natural sciences, are just some examples to cite.
Entering to define the "fact" for each field of reality is a task that exceeds our modest efforts. Furthermore, in the context of the present work, dealing with the definition of the "economic fact" and the "legal fact" is an urgent need that we have the privilege of facing, since by its nature, the "accounting fact" is found intimately intertwined with the aforementioned concepts.
For economists, any event that has as its origin or consequence a variation of any of the economic indicators, has the significance of an "economic fact". For example, the activity of a stockbroker, the behavior of a market, the variation of the currency, the level of production, the ravages of a flood, or the simple accumulation of fruits, leaves and stems in any part of the planet. that positively or negatively affects the environment, constitutes an “economic fact”.
In the field of Law, any "cultural fact" or "natural fact" to which the legal system grants a certain significance, constitutes a "legal fact". Consequently, any phenomenon, event or situation that gives rise to the birth, acquisition, modification, conservation, transmission, or extinction of the rights and obligations of people, be they natural or legal, constitutes a "legal fact". They are not considered "legal facts", the facts that do not affect the interests of said persons or that affect them are not covered by the legal system. In slavery, for example, the murder of a slave did not constitute a "legal fact" because simply the legal order of the time did not recognize the life of slaves as a right to preserve. The conclusion of contracts,the payment of insurance, the death of a person, the damage caused by a natural phenomenon to the property protected by insurance, are some examples of "legal facts" today.
In the field of accounting, any specific event of a natural or cultural nature that causes a positive or negative change in the assets of a certain entity constitutes an “accounting event”. The sale of merchandise, the payment of an invoice, the purchase of materials, the discovery of a mine, qualify as "accounting events", provided that they occur within the scope of a socio-economic entity and affect its assets.
From what has been said above, it is clear that the "accounting fact" is inextricably linked to the notion of property (patrimony) and the existence of the socio-economic entity. Consequently, nothing that can be measured in economic terms and be the subject of a claim by an entity, as its property, is no longer an "accounting fact". Moreover, all those "facts" of an economic nature that do not affect the equity of an entity of this type, do not represent "accounting facts" and remain to be classified as "economic facts", simply. Examples of these events are the different transactions that individuals carry out on a daily basis in search of their own subsistence, events to which accounting principles cannot be applied due to consumption, leaving their control within the field of accounts.
In this context, it can be affirmed that the "accounting fact" arises at the same moment, in which the "economic fact" and the "legal fact" converge, affecting its interests, within the socio-economic entity. Consequently, the "accounting fact" essentially involves both facts, whatever their origin: whether they come from a "natural fact" or a "cultural fact".
The process through which the "accounting event" is defined is shown in the following figure:
The accounting fact
As can be seen in the previous figure, the “accounting event” is a “specific event” that arises from a process in which a series of events converge, the nature of which should be explained, using some examples, such as the following:
A lightning strike, anywhere on earth, is a “natural fact”, since this phenomenon is a spontaneous manifestation of nature.
If the lightning that falls on that part of the earth causes some damage, for example, it kills one or several alpacas that graze in that place, we are facing an “economic fact”, since from that moment there will be less wool, less meat and fewer reproductive species, which will have a negative effect on the economy.
If the alpacas, victims of the lightning, were protected by insurance against this kind of accidents and damages, we would be facing a "legal fact", since the owners of these animals would see the damage compensated, via compensation.
Finally, if these alpacas that are protected by insurance, were owned by an entity, such as the State or a company, we would be talking about an “accounting fact”.
From the aforementioned examples, it follows that the “accounting event” is a specific “event”, because it exclusively affects the assets of a certain entity, call it a company or institution. The "legal fact" on the other hand, is a fact of a selective nature, inasmuch as it acts only within the framework of the law and within the terms that it prescribes; In the case of the example, it will act within the legal framework that regulates insurance. The "economic fact" for its part, is causal, since it affects a wide range of interests that then sufficiently influence the behavior of the economy in general. Finally, both the "natural fact" and the "cultural fact" are generic facts, because as we have seen in the figure and in the examples, they can trigger a series of events of different order.
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Philosophy of Education. Editorial Bruño. Third edition. Lime. 1961.
