Accounting Research and Data

• In Event: Research Synthesis and Agendas

Abstract

Accounting research is changing and one of the most significant changes over the past 50 years is how researchers use data to investigate questions. This paper describes the changes in the use of data in published accounting research and reveals how much personal computers and easily accessible databases have changed how accounting academics do research. Fifty years ago accounting research was primarily normative in nature which required little or no data, but research today is very different- approximately 70% of papers published since 2010 use archival data and almost all published papers now use some form of data. To investigate the use of data over time we hand-collect information about the data that was used in every paper published in TAR and JAR since 1965. We document the changes in the sources of data across time, by methodology, and by topic. Changes in archival research include an explosion in the size of datasets used, an increase in the number of datasets used per paper, and an increase in the number of new datasets per year. We observe changes in experimental research including an increase in the use of auditors as subjects through the 1990’s and then a distinct decrease after that time. We also note a significant substitution of graduate student subjects in place of undergraduate student subjects. We also document the proportion of papers that use proprietary datasets.

Authors

• Ryan Blunck, Georgia State University

• Ronald N Guymon, Georgia State University