As a social science, accounting is in interdependence with its environment. According to that, accounting system of each country is influenced by different economic and non-economic factors, including culture. Even when financial statements are prepared on the basis of comparable accounting principles, language or currency, there still remains culture as one factor of influence that must be considered. Accounting values that have impact on particular accounting systems are linked with Hofstede's cultural dimensions and described in Gray's model, later empirically tested by other researchers. Although not all of Gray's hypotheses are supported, the main framework for explaining international differences and issues in accounting by cultural factors has been established. After all, culture can also be considered as criterion for classifying national accounting systems into clusters, which is very important for efforts on international accounting harmonization area.

Kot družbena znanost je računovodstvo odvisno od svojega okolja. Na računovodski sistem vsake države vplivajo različni gospodarski in negospodarski dejavniki, vključno s kulturo. Čeprav se računovodski izkazi pripravljajo na podlagi primerljivih računovodskih načel, jezika ali valute, je kultura vpliven dejavnik, ki ga je treba upoštevati. Računovodske vrednote, ki vplivajo na posamezne računovodske sisteme, so povezane s Hofstedejevimi kulturnimi razsežnostmi in opisane v Grayjevem modelu, ki so ga pozneje empirično preizkušali tudi drugi raziskovalci. Vse Grayeve hipoteze sicer niso potrjene, vendar je bil s kulturnimi dejavniki opredeljen osnovni okvir za razlago mednarodnih razlik in vprašanj v računovodstvu. Navsezadnje je lahko kultura tisto merilo, po katerem razvrščamo računovodske sisteme posameznih držav v skupine, kar je zelo pomembno pri prizadevanju za mednarodno uskladitev računovodstva.