D’Amore-McKim School of Business THE PhD PROJECT 2014 ACCOUNTING DSA CONFERENCE ARNIE WRIGHT CO-EDITOR, ACCOUNTING HORIZONS

D’Amore-McKim School of Business BROAD THEMES BACKGROUND ON ACCOUNTING HORIZONS ELEMENTS OF “GOOD” RESEARCH MISTAKES AUTHORS OFTEN MAKE DEVELOPING INNOVATIVE RESEARCH IDEAS

D’Amore-McKim School of Business ACCOUNTING HORIZONS Co-editors: Paul Griffin, UC Davis; Arnie Wright, Northeastern (June ) One of three AAA wide journals Listed in SSCI, ranked 7 th in SJR impact (2012) Philosophy: “to BRIDGE academic and professional audiences with articles that focus on accounting, broadly defined, and that provide insights pertinent to the accounting profession”.

D’Amore-McKim School of Business ACCOUNTING HORIZONS Papers deal with any aspect of accounting, including—but not limited to— the following topics: – Accounting ethics – Assurance services – Financial reporting – Impact of accounting on organizations and individual behavior – Information systems – Managerial accounting – Regulation of the profession and related legal developments – Risk management – Taxation Our belief is there’s been too much focus on financial reporting and assurance services in Accounting Horizons.

D’Amore-McKim School of Business ACCOUNTING HORIZONS Audience: researchers, educators, practitioners, regulators, and students of accounting. Given “bridge” nature of the journal, papers must be written in a style that communicates effectively across diverse groups. Relevance and timeliness are also of great concern to ensure issues are of interest to the academic and practice communities.

D’Amore-McKim School of Business ACCOUNTING HORIZONS To establish an active dialogue (“bridge”) between academia and practice AH has commissioned articles, reviews of the literature, forums (3-4 articles on a topic area), historical reviews, insights on current events, memorials, and commentaries. We have actively pursued this direction, especially commissioned articles and forums.

D’Amore-McKim School of Business ACCOUNTING HORIZONS Review process – Double “blind” review – Objective: two-three month turnaround – All methods are acceptable, including archival, experimental, field study, field survey, qualitative (e.g., interview), and literature/practice review. Four issues a year (March, June, September, and December) Typically 6-8 articles, plus commentaries Acceptance rate is about 22%. Median turnaround 69 days in 2014.

D’Amore-McKim School of Business ELEMENTS OF “GOOD” RESEARCH Overriding question is whether the findings cause us to significantly revise our beliefs about an important accounting issue. – Presumes the findings are reliable, i.e., there are no “fatal flaws” in the theory, data, and/or analyses. In all, consider the contribution-- have we learned something new? Communicates clearly

D’Amore-McKim School of Business ELEMENTS OF “GOOD” RESEARCH Swanson (CAR, Spring 2004) introduces Q-r Theory to explain (Ellison at MIT) journal review process Q importance of article (“relevance”) r exposition, robustness of results (“rigor”) Continuous learning process of social norms by reviewers Reviewers tend to focus on r over time (finding fault) unless editor intervenes

D’Amore-McKim School of Business MISTAKES AUTHORS OFTEN MAKE Do not take reasonable measures to make sure work is refined enough so as NOT GET REJECTED OUT OF HAND – Gain a thorough knowledge of prior research and your incremental contribution – Present at workshops/conferences, get colleague comments – Ensure English grammar is appropriate and no spelling/typo errors.

D’Amore-McKim School of Business MISTAKES AUTHORS OFTEN MAKE Do not clearly communicate the importance of the research and what we’ve learned REMEMBER IT’S A MARKETING EFFORT In the introduction address Kinney’s (TAR April 1986: 349) three important questions: What is the problem (research issue)? Why is this problem important? How will it be solved (method)? – Final section also very important: major issue examined, key findings, implications for future research and practice

D’Amore-McKim School of Business MISTAKES AUTHORS OFTEN MAKE Do not devote sufficient time to conduct research – For instance, dedicate 2-3 days (Mondays and Wednesdays) each week to research; don’t get swamped with teaching or service demands Give up after a rejection – Everybody gets rejected – Learn from the process – Revise and resubmit or develop new project

D’Amore-McKim School of Business DEVELOPING INNOVATIVE RESEARCH IDEAS Attend conferences – Win-win-win – Get feedback on your research – Listen to work others are doing and panel sessions in your areas of interest: What important issues/questions seem unresolved or not considered? – Networking with others with similar interests: potential co-authors; colleagues providing feedback; external letters for tenure

D’Amore-McKim School of Business DEVELOPING INNOVATIVE RESEARCH IDEAS Read widely – Research articles (unresolved/unconsidered issues; avenues for future research) – Financial press – Standards, exposure drafts, agenda of regulators – Economic, historical, practitioner, general interest journals

D’Amore-McKim School of Business DEVELOPING INNOVATIVE RESEARCH IDEAS Try to periodically “think outside of the box”; identify a potential research issue What concerns you about current practice? Discuss an idea with a colleague(s) and get their thoughts on the importance and publishability of the idea. “Two thirds-baked ideas” workshop.

D’Amore-McKim School of Business THANK YOU!

D’Amore-McKim School of Business