Why Accounting Is Both a Science and an Art

While accountants do not win Nobel prizes or become as famous as scientists and artists, their job is of no less importance. Whether you are a student of accounting or are a CEO of a large accounting firm, the question of whether accounting is a science, an art or both must have popped up. While carrying out any of your accounting operations, such as managing business entities or dealing with economic entity concept, you might have wondered if your work tilts more towards the scientific rigor or towards artistic brilliance.

Comparing Science and Art

Have you ever wondered what counts as a science and what counts as an art? Have you ever thought if the work that Einstein and Mozart did have any similarities? Don’t worry – we are not going to delve into the philosophical debate about what’s science and what’s art. We’ll keep it simple.

Let’s take an example of physics and painting. Physics involves completely abstract concepts, such as force and momentum, and also deals with skills such as calculus. There is always a systematic procedure in physics, that is, gravity will make sure that the ball ‘always’ comes down when thrown in the air.

Painting, on the other hand, requires concrete perception. It’s subjective and just a little bit of variation in brush strokes will produce a different result each time. What’s good in painting will largely be determined by value judgments.

Accounting as a Science

Science is a discipline that has certain rules and regulations. A scientist observes phenomenon, forms hypothesis, collects data, tests them and finally forms theories. Well, accounting is no different. It follows a systematic and organized path – debits must always be equal to credits. Its concepts, such as balance depreciation, are also computed in a very scientific manner.

Moreover, it also involves observation of data and its experimentation. Just like a scientist, an accountant also analyzes, classifies and presents information.

Accounting as an Art

Simply put, art is the application of knowledge that has been established by certain theories and rules. Since accounting deals with the implementation of accepted methods and procedures, it can be classified as an art too.

Moreover, accountants, like artists, also make value judgments. From the time period it would require to depreciate an asset to whether to record contingency liabilities or not, there are a lot of decisions that accountants make based on circumstances. No one solution is right or wrong.

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