Academic accounting research and the standard setting process

A discussion focuses on some of the issues affecting the participation of academic researchers in the standard setting process, whether directly, by involvement in field test, for example, or indirectly, by undertaking research that will be viewed as ex ante relevant for the standard setting process. Fundamental distinctions between the nature of standard setting and academic accounting research necessarily circumscribe the role of academic researchers, but academic researchers and their scholarly inquiries can have a positive impact on the standard setting process. Academic researchers can have a constructive impact on the standard setting process at the 2nd stage, where the facts and theoretical predictions can be marshalled as part of identifying and describing the links between concepts and standards. Data access-data availability limitations do place constraints on the scope of academic researchers' contributions to the standard setting process.