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The current tag states:

for questions that relate to the laws, practices, and products of accounting. Please note that questions about accounting that are academic or have no bearing on personal finance are off-topic here.

  1. Wouldn't questions about laws and practices be academic in nature?

An example question would be, "I am a small business owner who is new to accounting and currently do not have the funds to afford an accountant. Using T charts should I keep track of miscellaneous expenses individually or lump them into a debit for a general 'Business Expense'?"

This is a question about laws and practices that relates to the site, as it is small-business. A previous question about the material came up here, and was confirmed as appropriate.

But, there seems to be a discrepancy here. The man is asking about debits and credits and rules at which to use them, but was marked as off-topic for:

Questions about accounting are off-topic unless they relate directly to personal finance or investing from an individual's perspective.

  1. So that leads me to ask, is there a stigma against accounting, as a whole, on this website?

The three areas that are "Off-Topic" but can pertain to possible accounting questions are:

  1. Questions about corporate or government finance
  2. Questions about accounting that are academic or have no bearing on personal finance
  3. Questions about small business that have no bearing on personal finance

Note: Are small business questions on topic? Where Chris W. Rea states

some questions related to being a contractor, self-employed, independent, freelancer, etc. (whatever you call it) ought to be on-topic, because they relate to a fundamental decision all individuals have to make: "How will I make a living?"

Accounting practices and laws, specifically in bookkeeping, are crucial for proper tax documentation and personal expense minimalization.

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    I don't disagree the tag summary needs work, but I don't like your answer. (By the way, you should really separate question "we should change the accounting tag summary" with answer "proposed tag summary".
    – Joe
    Feb 14, 2017 at 16:28
  • @Joe Noted and Changed. I marked it as a discussion because I felt we were marginalizing questions (and answers) by a very very gray tag. I would appreciate seeing what ideas some people could bring to the table.
    – Liam
    Feb 14, 2017 at 18:10
  • On meta the way you normally do this sort of thing is proposing your answer so people can separately vote on 'change?' And on your idea itself - and it's taken as given that we can make alternate answers.
    – Joe
    Feb 14, 2017 at 18:20
  • Is there a link that would illustrate how to do this? I apologize, this is my first meta post.
    – Liam
    Feb 14, 2017 at 18:56
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    Hmm, not really, just take the bit after the --- out of the question and put it in an answer. And then a new final sentence asking an actual question (Should we update the Accounting tag summary? or something generic like that is fine).
    – Joe
    Feb 14, 2017 at 18:58
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    A suggestion: Take your answer (yes we should change it, here is the proposal) out of the question post above, and post it as your own answer to the question. That way, if someone thinks that the question is good, but doesn't like your proposal, they can upvote the question and downvote the answer. Otherwise, someone like @Joe, who commented above, won't know how to vote on your question.
    – Ben Miller
    Feb 16, 2017 at 18:17
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    done, the proposed rewrite is now an answer
    – mhoran_psprep
    Feb 18, 2017 at 12:33

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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So I propose a new accounting tag:

For questions about the laws and practices of the accounting profession that promote self-employed wealth. Please note that academia questions of corporate theory or those that have no basis in financing are off-topic.

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  • I see no clear improvement from this wording. "Practices of the accounting profession" is itself, misleading, in my opinion. One assumption of Money.SE is that most of personal finance can be achieved without the need for a professional. "You need a pro" is the exception here, not the rule.
    – JTP - Apologise to Monica Mod
    Feb 22, 2017 at 15:08

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