Finance discipline is sometimes view as closely related to Accounting discipline than economics discipline for some obvious reasons. But, the finance discipline itself was a branch of economics and some of its theories are based on economic principles. It appears that the three disciplines complement one another such that the distinction are mere formality. Is Finance discipline more closely related to Accounting discipline than Economics discipline?
Corporate finance studies the investment decisions and capital acquisition. It is a discipline that part of the economy and develops with the accounting. The opportunity cost (cost of equity - CAPM -, for example) is a formalization of the economy. The sources and uses of capital are an extraction of accounting. I believe it is a discipline that is influenced by both, but in particular is closer to the economy on the following themes for example: rationing of resources, opportunity cost, efficient use of capital, interest rate.
It's a very interesting question. If you consider finance as a discipline which investigates financial ratios, cash flow statements, cash flow from operations etc., then it is more related to accounting. Otherwise, if you consider finance as a discipline whose main aim is to investigate financial markets and their equilibrium, then finance is more related to economics. Anyway, you are right, probably it is not easy to define a clear separation between these disciplines and in many occasions they refer to the same theories.
If one looks at the entire Finance discipline (Corporate Finance, Financial Institutions & Markets, Investments, International Finance, etc.), then Finance will probably be regarded as being close to Economics than Accounting. In all Finance courses, Accounting statements are basically used to conduct financial analysis; whereas, the underlying theories that drives Finance a subject are predominantly from Economics. In my opinion, I do believe Finance is closer to Economics than to Accounting.
Finance=accounting, not economics. I once had a professor of mine denigrated my pursuit of financial economic research as a work of finance, and I believe he had in mind corporate finance. So for the professor concerned monetary economic policy= economics. The black-scholes model, EMH and the like must be relegated to finance.
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