*3.4. Linking Phrases*

Twig notes are used as linking phrases to explain relationships between a higher level concept and a lower level concept, e.g., between a branch and a twig, or between a twig and its sub-twig. These twig notes (linking phrases) are shown in the Table 3.



### *3.5. Colors and Their Implications*

Colors are used to highlight "accounting changes" from bifurcations, which result in germination of a new accounting branch or a new twig within the branch. We render further implications of colors used in this accounting tree, as shown in the Table 4.


**Table 4.** Colors and implications in the accounting concept tree.

### *3.6. The Curriculum Concept Tree of Accounting Theory*

Figure 2 is the product of the tree-like concept map for the curriculum of Accounting Theory. In the figure, accounting theories and concepts are modeled into a tree. Located at the root is

accountability, which represents the foundation of accounting practices. The accountability root buttressed the financial accounting trunk (main branch) and the branches of public-sector accounting and sustainability accounting. This layout visualizes the theory that accountability underlies all accounting phenomena, and different accountor–accountee relationships regulate various sector-specific accounting practices [33,42,46–48]. The bifurcation signposts indicate the difference between accounting sectors (branches), academic schools and streams (twigs), and sector-specific standards, principles, and practical models (sub-twigs and lower-level sub-twigs).

**Figure 2.** The concept tree of Accounting Theory.

### *3.7. A Comparison between the Two Curriculum Concept Maps*

Table 5 outlines some main characteristics of this concept tree in contrast to Simon (2007)'s curriculum concept map of financial accounting theory.


### **Table 5.** The main differences between Simon's map and the concept tree.
