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The purpose of this paper is to develop a comprehensive theory as to why academic research in accounting is said not to help practice.

The authors (1) present a comprehensive literature review in the academic/practitioner gap arena, and (2) develop a theoretical background for it. Further, they identify (3) the different information needs of these groups using value group theory and (4) the inherent factors and personality traits that influence career choice. Next, they (5) evaluate the values of each subgroup. They then (6) theorize what types of accounting research would interest each. They argue that (7) individuals who enter the academy differ from those who enter practice, and (8) the socialization processes and the impact of the professional setting (practice or academe) on behaviors further the separation of academic research from practitioner needs.

This paper is theoretical. It suggests that bridging the gap will be difficult. The study is theoretical. The limitation is that it does not empirically test the relationships hypothesized. By providing a comprehensive model of factors underlying the gap, however, it can be a fruitful source of research ideas for years to come. The implications are that it will be difficult to bridge the gap between accounting practitioners and academics. Having a greater understanding of the causes of the gap, however, may be very useful in fostering thought as to how to overcome it.

Prior literature on the topic is largely atheoretical. This paper is the first to develop a broad theory of the gap.

This paper compares and contrasts practice-based perceptions of the research–practice gap in the United States (US) with those in Australia.

The current study extends the work of Tucker and Lowe (2014) by comparing and contrasting their Australian-based findings with evidence from a questionnaire survey and follow-up interviews with senior representatives of 18 US state and national professional accounting associations.

The extent to which academic research informs practice is perceived to be limited, despite the potential for academic research findings to make a significant contribution to management accounting practice. We find similarities as well as differences in the major obstacles to closer engagement in the US and Australia. This comparison, however, leads us to offer a more fundamental explanation of the divide between academic research and practice framed in terms of the relative benefits and costs of academics engaging with practice.

Rather than following conventional approaches to ‘bridging the gap’ by identifying barriers to the adoption of research, we suggest that only after academics have adequate incentives to speak to practice can barriers to a more effective diffusion of their research findings be surmounted.

This study makes three novel contributions to the “relevance literature” in management accounting. First, it adopts a distinct theoretical vantage point to organize, analyze, and interpret empirical evidence. Second, it captures practice-based views about the nature and extent of the divide between research and practice. Third, it provides a foundational assessment of the generalizability of the gap by examining perceptions of it across two different geographic contexts.

To understand the reasons that accounting academics leave the tenure-track academic pipeline.

Survey study was conducted of PhD graduates who left the tenure-track accounting pipeline over a 22-year period.

We located and surveyed accounting PhD graduates who have opted out of the tenure-track. These opt-outs included those who have left academia entirely and those who have moved into non-tenure-track positions. Survey results indicate that dissatisfaction with research expectations is the most significant factor for faculty now employed in non-tenure-track positions. Although there were no gender-related differences in the number of faculty who left the tenure-track but stayed in academia, there were some gender differences in the importance of family-related factors in motivating the move off of the tenure-track.

The study examines the importance of the “push” and “pull” factors associated with changing career paths in academia that have been identified in the literature. The study finds some differences in influential factors between accounting academia and other fields. Sample size is a potential limitation.

The study provides recommendations for PhD program directors and for hiring institutions to help reduce the number of opt-outs.

Retention of qualified faculty who are dedicated teachers improves students’ educational outcomes.

This is the first study to examine factors that drive accounting academics to opt-out of the tenure-track.

Purpose: The current study aims to cast light on the divide between academic research in management accounting and its applicability to practice by examining, from the standpoint of nursing, how this gap is perceived and what challenges may be involved in bridging it.

Design/Methodology/Approach: The current study compares the findings of Tucker and Parker (2014) with both quantitative as well as qualitative evidence from an international sample of nursing academics.

Findings: The findings of this study point to the differing tradition and historical development in framing and addressing the research–practice gap between management accounting and nursing contexts and the rationale for practice engagement as instrumental in explaining disciplinary differences in addressing the research–practice gap.

Research Implications Despite disciplinary differences, we suggest that a closer engagement of academic research in management accounting with practice “can work,” “will work,” and “is worth it.” Central to a closer relationship with practice, however, is the need for management accounting academics to follow their nursing counterparts and understand the incentives that exist in undertaking research of relevance.

Originality/value: The current study is one of the few that has sought to look to the experience of other disciplines in bridging the gap. Moreover, to our knowledge, it is the first study in management accounting to attempt this comparison. In so doing, our findings provide a platform for further considering how management accounting researchers, and management accounting as a discipline might, in the spirit of this study’s title, “Learn from the Experience of Others.”

Given the importance of interdisciplinary research in addressing wicked problems, this paper aims to explore the development of and prospects for interdisciplinary research through evidence gained from academic accountants in Australia.

Extant literature is complemented with interviews of accounting academics in Australia to reveal the challenges and opportunities facing interdisciplinary researchers and reimagine prospects for the future.

Evidence indicates that accounting academics hold diverse views toward interdisciplinarity. There is also confusion between multidisciplinarity and interdisciplinarity in the journals in which academic accountants publish. Further, there is mixed messaging among Deans, disciplinary leaders and emerging scholars about the importance of interdisciplinary research to, on the one hand, publish track records and, on the other, secure grants from government and industry. Finally, there are differing perceptions about the disciplines to be encouraged or accepted in the cross-fertilisation of ideas.

This paper is novel in gathering first-hand data about the opportunities, challenges and tensions accounting academics face in collaborating with others in interdisciplinary research. It confirms a discouraging pressure for emerging scholars between the academic research outputs required to publish in journals, prepare reports for industry and secure research funding, with little guidance for how these tensions might be managed.

We propose a research design involving the use of Bloom’s taxonomy both in facilitating the teaching–learning process and in the educator assessing students’ final grades. The latter are compared with students’ self-acknowledged grades. Testing is done by considering a sample of accounting students enrolled for the Controlling course in Romania.

The employed research methodology relies on two instruments: a questionnaire and the examination process. Cluster analysis is used in analyzing students’ grades. Determinants of students’ academic performance are discussed by using factor analysis.

Comparing students’ self-acknowledged grades with those assessed by the educator, we document the necessity of further work in enhancing students’ ability to better assess their academic performance. Questions belonging to the application and analysis levels seem to be preferred by students.

We raise a series of theoretical questions in the area of examination performance. The obtained results in relation to the assessment of accounting students’ academic performance and its determinants offer useful insights for accounting educators.

Our chapter tests the use of Bloom’s taxonomy in the context of an emerging country’s educational system that lacked consistency and faced significant challenges throughout history. We also consider two measures for students’ academic performance as perceptions upon what should be the same result of the teaching–learning process. The chapter addresses the evolutions and particularities of the Romanian academic environment in the area of economics, developing a brief analysis meant to position the testing of the proposed research design.

To provide a view of quality in accounting education from the perspective of a critical stakeholder group – academic accountants. The identification of this view adds to the growing discussions around quality, and how it is assured in higher education.

Applying a framework for defining quality in higher education to an accounting context, a postal survey questionnaire was sent to academic accountants at 39 Australian universities to gather data about their views of quality in accounting education.

Academic accountants view quality, as currently defined and promoted in their immediate working environment, differently to their views about how quality should be defined and promoted. As a consequence, quality assurance and improvement systems may be currently designed to assure quality that is promoted in accounting education, rather than quality that ought to be promoted.

Using a postal survey to gather data on the complex issue of “quality” might not always provide the richness of data that may be collected during face‐to‐face survey interviews.

The findings of this study provide valuable input into the discussion around the design of quality assurance and improvement systems in higher education generally, and for accounting education specifically.

In the absence of any previous empirical research that has sought to identify these perceptions, the findings fill the gap in the literature by clearly identifying the views of quality in accounting education from a key stakeholder group – academic accountants.

This paper aims to examine the influence of academics who are members of the profession on academic institutions.

An analytic autoethnography of the influence of accounting academics who are members of the profession on South African universities, supported by publicly available information, such as policy and other documents, web sites, and published material; documentation the authors are able to gather as participants; and formal and informal interviews the authors conduct with academic managers.

The paper finds that profession-identifying academics create and maintain rules and structures within academe, rules and structures that suit the profession. Managers who are members of the profession identify more closely with the profession than with their university. The analysis reveals the mechanics of this influence, as well as the consequences.

The paper contributes to theory by synthesizing the creation of profession-inspired institutions framework and the maintenance of an institutions framework into a single framework. It also applies the theory by providing an example of a profession creating and maintaining institutionalization in an adjacent institution. The findings have implications for academia in cases where academic staff members are members of professional bodies, such as engineering and law faculties. The insights highlighted here may also be of interest to Australasian, UK and US accounting academics, because the literature contains evidence of pressures from professional bodies there.

This paper aims to investigate the development of accounting academia in an emerging country situated in Central and Eastern Europe.

First, the authors analyze publications in the main three local Romanian journals dedicated to accounting, using content analysis and statistical tests in line with the issues analyzed for accounting publications in the international literature. Second, they mobilize personal experience of, and observations of local developments by, the authors.

The authors find that the decision of establishing a national journal ranking system in Romania in 2005 had both positive and negative consequences. Romanian accounting academics were asked after 2005 to focus on a very short notice on writing research papers, following a long period of communism and about 15 years of post-communism during which they wrote textbooks and professional papers. Journal and university rankings therefore influenced the publication behavior of such researchers, leading to searches for efficiency, ease of publications, publications outside accounting as well as to a difficult publication of their research outcome by internationally relevant accounting journals.

Publications in the three Romanian accounting journals for one year were analyzed and the personal experience of the authors mobilized. However, following this study, university administrators and national regulators can better ascertain the effect of their actions, and use these findings to better plan their future actions.

This paper contributes to accounting research literature by offering insights into the current state of accounting research and publication in an emerging economy (Romania), and by investigating the institutional factors that may be responsible for this state of affairs.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a thought-provoking, attention-directing diegesis about the quality of the experience for those working as academic accounting scholars.

Using storytelling by the authors as narrators and a literature review, this paper examines challenges to, and possibilities for, accounting academics.

The study reveals a number of possibilities for the sustainability of the accounting academy in Australia, all of which rely on the symbiotic relations between the three elements of the profession – practitioners, policymakers and academics – to prepare accounting and business professionals for the future.

The study is limited to the Australian context of academic accountants and, therefore, the identified possibilities for accounting academics in other contexts may differ.

This paper identifies the challenges for contemporary accounting academics in Australia and presents opportunities for sustainability of the Australian accounting academy.

This paper uses a story to explore its overarching theme of the quality of the academic experience for accounting academics in Australia. The story is developed from the authors’ combined experiences of > 80 years as accounting academics who are also actively engaged with the profession.