Abstract :1) This presentation wants to be a tribute to prof. Richard Mattessich; it is written through the eyes of a researcher who has worked closely with him over a period of 42 years, starting attending his courses of “Income Determination Theory” and “Research Methodology” at the University of British Columbia in 1975. Among his huge scientific research and publications, I intend to stress and underline three major contributions:
a) Accounting metrics and other mathematical instruments which anticipated computer spreadsheet by 30 years.
b) The preparation of accountants for information economics by means of analytical methods.
c) The proposition of the “onion model of reality” to distinguish different Kind of reality.
Over a career extending back to the beginning 1940s Professor Richard Mattessich has published books and articles in the field of accounting, management science, behavioral sciences, epistemology, philosophy and history, reflecting wide interdisciplinary scholarship. To celebrate his ninety–fifth birthday in 2017, this paper aims to highlight specifically his “research methodology”, in the particular historical context, starting from the so called “golden age of a priori research in accounting”. Keywords : Richard Mattessich, University of British Columbia
