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The purpose of this paper is to provide a soundly based epistemological underpinning for the kind of theorisation in which many classical financial accounting researchers engaged and thus to support a renewal of this programme.

The paper draws on pragmatist philosophy and, in particular, on Jules Coleman’s theory of “explanation by embodiment”. The applicability of this theory to the world of financial reporting is discussed. Various theorists and schools within classical accounting theory are examined from the perspective of Coleman’s ideas, focusing particularly on A.C. Littleton’s Structure of Accounting Theory.

The paper finds that classical accounting research works such as Structure of Accounting Theory can be interpreted as the search for Colemanian explanation by embodiment and that this provides them with a soundly based pragmatist underpinning for their theorisation.

This paper supports the resumption by academics, qua academics, of work to contribute to accounting standard-setting by offering argumentation that addresses accounting principles and methods directly, rather than only via the social scientific investigation of behaviour in the accounting arena.

Such a resumption would contribute positively to future standard-setting.

This paper contributes to the defence of classical financial accounting research from the charge of lacking theoretical rigour.

The study critically evaluates the theory of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) implementation in an attempt to provide directions for future research. Using the extensive structured review of literature using the Scopus database tool, the study reviewed 79 articles, and in particular the topic-related 57 articles were analysed. Nine journals contribute to 51% of articles (29 of 57 articles). In particular, the three journals published 15 articles: Critical Perspectives on Accounting (7), Accounting, Organizations and Society (4), and Journal of Applied Accounting Research (4). In total, 83% (47 of 57) of the articles were published 2009–2018. A total of 1,168 citations were found from 45 articles since 12 articles were without citations. The highest cited authors were Ball (2006) – 410 citations, Kothari, Ramanna, and Skinner (2010) – 135 citations, and Napier (1989) – 85 citations. In particular, five theories have been used widely: institutional theory (13), accounting theory (6), agency theory (3), positive accounting theory (3), and process theory (2). Future studies’ focus could be on theory implications in IFRS adoption/implementation studies in a country or a group of countries’ experience. Future studies could also focus on various theories rather depending on a single theory (i.e. institutional theory).

This paper aims to investigate how the literature has been addressing the relationships between corporate fraud and executive behavior and corporate fraud and information technology (IT) controls.

A systematic literature review was performed following the planning phases proposed by Levy and Ellis (2006), illuminated by the research onion, developed by Saunders et al. (2007).

The main findings of the studies analyzed refer basically to models to assess the risk of fraud. These risks originate from the market, from the organization itself or from individuals and also from their relationship networks. Subsequently, the main risks identified by the authors were classified according to their origin, the main theories approached and the “solutions” for the risks presented by the authors as the product of their work.

It should be noted that this study is not free of limitations, of which two stand out: the full body of articles on the subject was certainly not evaluated. Although the search has been systematic and judicious both by the combination of keywords for the searches, as well as by the use of the main databases and also by the rigor in the description of the procedures and the analysis of the articles in the light of Research Onion was based on the authors’ knowledge that may have been limited in some respect.

As a practical implication, there is the relationship of red flags and their classification by origin, as they can be very useful for planning the work of internal and external auditors.

It is considered that this work can be a starting point for scholars who are interested in the corporate fraud phenomenon, given that the data was collected and organized systematically.

The analysis of the articles in relation to Research Onion shed light on the main philosophical and methodological characteristics of the studies. Also, regarding the relationships between corporate fraud and IT controls, existing scientific research appears to be limited. Searches for the terms information technology and information systems were extended, as well as search strings tested with the terms data governance and IT governance without results. This fact demonstrates that there may be (as far as the results have reached) a vast area of research on corporate fraud in the field of systems knowledge and information technology.