The primary objective of Positive Accounting Theory (PAT) is to explain as well as predict
accounting practices in contrast to the Normative Accounting Theories, which are
prescriptive in nature and which were a dominant part of accounting research till the two
controversial articles were published by Watts and Zimmerman in 1978. It was a
revolutionary idea, which raised a number of issues prompting researchers to debate the
technical issues concerning research methods, issues related to philosophy of science and
issues concerning economics-based research in accounting. This paper attempts to review
these issues and the validity of the questions raised from such issues involved. As pointed
out by various authors, there is a need to integrate the two approaches of the discipline
to evolve its full potential. The best theory or the approach emerges not in isolation, but
as a result of intense arguments, giving due weight to the others’ view point