Volume 8, Issue 1 - Tribute to Yuji Ijiri

Economics and psychology are adjacent disciplines concerned primarily with questions at aggregate and individual levels, respectively. Their interaction is useful, but attempts to integrate them into one discipline have little scientific value.

This paper probes into the foundations of conventional accounting measurements in order to construct a relatively simple axiom system on which a purely mathematical measurement system can be erected and thus provide a consistent basis for examining pertinent aspects of conventional accounting practices. […] We take conventional accounting measurement as given rather than, ab initio , seeking to prescribe what we think accounting measurement should be. […] Our attempt has been directed toward approximating conventional accounting by a relatively simple set of axioms and measurement rules, in the same manner that scientists in physics or chemistry have tried to develop a relatively simple set of concepts and theories in order to explain, in satisfactory degrees of approximation, complicated phenomena in this world.

Yuji Ijiri was a polymath and pioneer who gave us a better understanding and methods of accounting and management. His theories of measurement, aggregation, and double- and triple-entry bookkeeping built an enduring foundation for the discipline and practice of accounting.

This paper discusses Yuji Ijiri’s notion of accountability, the central role it played in his research, and its importance to conceptual frameworks of accounting.

I shall examine Yuji Ijiri’s influence on practice of accounting in Japan. His ground-breaking contribution to accounting scholarship is all the more important today because he stayed true to his beliefs - his ultimate quest for truth was never compromised by academic fad or fashion. We can and must learn from his legacy and uncompromising values whether we do research in Japan, the United States or elsewhere in the world.

The author recounts Professor Ijiri’s works throughout his academic career.

Professor Yuji Ijiri is an interdisciplinary scholar. This essay is a recollection of some of his interdisciplinary works during the later period of his academic career.