Reading and Understanding Academic Research in Accounting: A Guide for Students

ABSTRACT The ability to read and understand academic research can be an important tool for practitioners in an increasingly complex accounting and business environment. This guide was developed to introduce students to the world of academic research. It is not intended for PhD students or others who wish to perform academic research. Instead, the guide should make published academic research more accessible and less intimidating so that future practitioners will be able to read empirical research and profitably apply the relevant findings. The guide begins by examining the importance of academic research for practitioners in accounting and next reviews the basics of the research process. With that background in place, we then give some guidelines and helpful hints for reading and evaluating academic papers. This guide has been used for several years to introduce master's degree students to academic literature in an accounting theory class. After reading this guide and seeing a demonstration presentation by the professor, students have been able to successfully read and discuss research findings. Key words: Understanding empirical research, supplemental readings, importance of academic research, incorporating academic research in classroom INTRODUCTION There has long been a communication gap between the work of academic researchers and that of practicing accountants (for example, see Sterling 1973 and Zeff 2003). For researchers, the result of this gap is frustration that carefully prepared contributions to the field are ignored by those who could most benefit from new knowledge. For practitioners, the result seems to be a mix of gratitude for the efforts of academics to prepare the next generation of accountants and amusement at the time 'wasted' on what they feel to be irrelevant papers that end up gathering dust on the shelves of the library (Leisenring and Johnson 1994). This guide is an attempt to bridge the gap between academics and practitioners by introducing undergraduate and master's level students to the academic literature. We begin with a discussion of the important role academic research can play in accounting practice. We then examine the accounting research process, specifically how it follows the scientific method. Finally, we provide a set of steps and helpful hints for students and other non-academics who want to quickly, rather than thoroughly, read and evaluate academic papers. In the next section we look at the importance of academic research to you and your career and discuss how academic research is performed. With this general background on the research process, we then present a systematic approach designed to quickly get useful knowledge from academic papers. As a result, you will learn how to read and how to evaluate academic papers with confidence. THE IMPORTANCE OF ACADEMIC RESEARCH Practicing accountants, whether in public practice or industry, spend considerable time and effort conducting research for their clients. They have to decide how to implement new accounting or auditing standards, how to present unusual economic transactions in the financial statements, and how new tax laws impact their clients or employers. This research focuses on solving immediate problems for a single client or small group of clients. However, there is another type of accounting research that focuses on how the accounting profession affects the capital markets through academic accounting research. Academic accounting research looks at various topics in financial reporting, auditing, systems implementation, tax reporting, and other key issues from a scientific perspective. The studies use evidence from many different sources, including financial statements, stock prices, surveys, experiments, and even computer simulations and mathematical proofs. Research topics range from immediately useful aids to improving current audit procedures to big picture issues regarding the future direction of the profession. …