This commentary was written as part of a panel presentation at the 2017 American Accounting Association Annual Meeting. The starting point is the provocative statement in the instructions from then AAA President David Burgstahler: “There is a broad perception that, despite the large volume of accounting research produced over the last half century, there has been relatively little impact on practice and public policy, and only limited lasting impact on the development of accounting thought.”
My role was to discuss the perceived lack of impact since 1967 vis-à-vis two specific questions: How have journals and publications contributed to the problem? Could journals and publications provide an opportunity for research to have an impact?
As a starting point for thinking about the perception that accounting research has had relatively little impact on accounting practice over the last half of a century, we must first ask: What is accounting practice? The mission...
