A contabilidade como instrumento de entronização do capitalismo contemporâneo

Abstract

This theoretical essay has the purpose to show the reflections on the role of Accounting in relation to contemporary capitalism. The purpose of analyzing the binding conditions between them is to verify a possible intensification of accounting alignment to the point of enthronizing the neoliberal capitalism. Basing on the dialectical-historical method a brief study about the relationship between Accounting and capitalism along the years was made. Thus, this is an immersion that goes from the thirteenth to the eighteenth centuries, with a brief return to the Ancient times, taking into account the double entry method. An immersion from the nineteenth to the twenty first century was also considered. The purpose of going back in history is to verify to what extent Accounting and capitalism bonded together and in which conditions this occurred. The results achieved in relation to the period of High Middle Age and Renascence in Europe showed that the presence of Accounting was relevant to the process of accumulation of wealth. However, the European development of capitalism was not genuine because the instruments such as Accounting, Arithmetic, Hindu-Arabic numbers, Rule of Three, Proportional Relations, contributed to the onset of the Commercial Revolution. All these instruments were brought from the Middle East, Asian, and MesoAmerica. The evidence identified in the research does not seem to have been different in Ancient times according to the books Guanzi, Arthasastra, Ciropedia. Their reports about the uprising of capitalism and probably the existence of a proto-double entry, or principle of duality already existed. By analyzing the appearance of the Accounting thought from the nineteenth century on, it is verified that there was a bond between Accounting and capitalism, which is different from what happened in the past. This reflection suggests the existence of a form of Accounting in which the central element is an abstraction. Abstraction means the application of a non-scientific theoretical element established in the Theory of Entity by Paton, which includes postulates, principles and accounting standards. These theoretical elements were influenced by positivism and normativism based on economicism but enhanced throughout the twentieth century and have not lost their instrumental characteristic and have kept their theoretical-regulator form. The recrudescence of these theoretical elements occurred with the elaboration of the IFRS, with the purpose of an accounting international language. A new parallel morphological capitalism named financialization was developed and contaminated Accounting via new concepts such as fair value and impairment. These elements can be considered the highlight of the relationship between Accounting and neoliberal capitalism. In this case, Accounting is put into a thin line between the greed for profits and the volatility of Accounting numbers. The conclusion reached is that Accounting has strongly contributed to enthrone contemporary capitalism.