Robert T. Sprouse and Fundamental Concepts of Financial Accounting

This paper reviews the life and contributions of the late Robert T. Sprouse to the conceptual development of financial accounting. He was an influential accounting academic and standard setter who is perhaps best known for his joint monograph with Maurice Moonitz, A Tentative Set of Broad Accounting Principles for Business Enterprises, which provided a springboard for the development and use of fundamental concepts that are expressed or implied in the FASB conceptual framework, accounting standards, and related publications and have changed the way we analyze and resolve financial accounting and reporting issues. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]