This new edition continues to include considerable coverage of accounting standards oriented to 2018 IASB standards as well as major U.S. accounting standards. While the text discussion concentrates on relating standards to the theoretical framework of the book, the coverage provides students with exposure to the contents of the standards themselves.

Despite its theoretical orientation,  Financial Accounting Theory, 8/e   does not ignore the institutional structure of financial accounting and standard-setting. It features considerable coverage and critical evaluation of financial accounting standards and regulations, such as fair value accounting, financial instruments, reserve recognition accounting, management discussion and analysis, employee stock options, impairment tests, hedge accounting, derecognition, consolidation, and comprehensive income. The structure of standard-setting bodies is also described, and the role of structure in helping to engineer the consent necessary for a successful standard is evaluated. 

William Scott received his B. Comm. from Carleton University, and his MBA and Ph.D. from the School of Business, University of Chicago. He is a Fellow of Chartered Professional Accountants Canada. His research has been published in the Journal of Accounting Research, Contemporary Accounting Research, Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, and several other academic journals. He has served on the editorial boards of Journal of Accounting Research, Contemporary Accounting Research, and The Accounting Review; and served a term as Editor of Contemporary Accounting Research. He has taught at Carleton University, University of Chicago, Queen’s University at Kingston, University of British Columbia and University of Waterloo, and is now distinguished Emeritus Professor at University of Waterloo.

Professor Patricia C. O’Brien is the EY Professor at the School of Accounting & Finance, University of Waterloo. Her research, on topics concerning financial analysts, financial reporting standards, and information in capital markets, is published in many of the premier accounting journals.  In 2009, the Canadian Academic Accounting Association honored Professor O’Brien with the Haim Falk Award for Distinguished Contribution to Accounting Thought.  She currently serves on the Academic Advisory Council to Canada’s Accounting Standards Board.  She has served as Editor-in-Chief of Contemporary Accounting Research (CAR), and on the editorial boards of CAR, the Journal of Accounting Research, The Accounting Review, and the Journal of Accounting and Public Policy.  She holds an A.B. degree cum laude in mathematics from Cornell University, and earned her M.B.A. and Ph.D. degrees at the University of Chicago.  Prior to joining Waterloo, Professor O’Brien was a faculty member at the University of Rochester, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Michigan, London Business School, and York University.  She has held visiting appointments at the Helsinki School of Economics, the University of Chicago, Stanford University, and the University of Amsterdam, as well as in the Office of the Chief Economist of the Ontario Securities Commission.

Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Accounting Under Ideal Conditions
Chapter 3: The Decision Usefulness Approach to Financial Reporting
Chapter 4: Efficient Securities Markets
Chapter 5: The Value Relevance of Accounting Information
Chapter 6: The Valuation Approach to Decision Usefulness
Chapter 7: Valuation Applications
Chapter 8: The Efficient Contracting Approach to Decision Usefulness
Chapter 9: An Analysis of Conflict
Chapter 10: Executive Compensation
Chapter 11: Earnings Management
Chapter 12: Standard Setting: Economic Issues
Chapter 13: Standard Setting: Political Issues