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This commentary provides reflections on the evolution of international accounting research over the past thirty years, focusing on trends and insights.

May 30, 2026

Some Thoughts on International Accounting Research

Key Points

This commentary provides reflections on the evolution of international accounting research over the past thirty years, focusing on trends and insights.
Personal reflections based on three decades of research in international accounting.
Discussion of trends in literature, focusing on international differences and similarities.
Examination of the interplay between accounting and economic institutions.
The volume and sophistication of international accounting literature have significantly increased.
There is a notable emphasis on international differences, often overlooking fundamental similarities among market economies.
Innovations in accounting and economic institutions have evolved together, complicating the identification of their separate impacts on welfare.

Abstract

SUMMARY This Commentary discusses some thoughts that emerged from looking back on three decades of researching international accounting. First, and most obviously, the literature has grown substantially in volume and sophistication over that time. Second, there has been an understandable focus on international differences, especially, but not entirely, before the advent of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), whereas among market economies there are fundamental similarities that tend to be ignored. Third, accounting and other economic institutions have evolved jointly, so it is not possible to identify separate effects on aggregate welfare of innovations in accounting and innovations in complementary institutions. The essay is a brief “thought piece,” not an overview like my previous article in this journal (Ball 2016). It is a personal reflection that draws heavily on my own research, and consequently—as already will be evident from the previous sentence—it contains an immodestly large number of self-citations. JEL Classifications: M16; M41; M42; P50.

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