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Improving Knowledge Transfer: Looking Beyond the Academic Research Article

Published: 2022

Steven Salterio
Professor & Stephen J.R. Smith Chair of Accounting and Auditing

Key Takeaways

  • This study attempts to rigorously answer the question of whether there are better means to communicate with standard setters than the current reliance on academic accounting and auditing journal articles. The authors argue that academic articles are optimized for quick knowledge transfer within the research community but are poor vehicles for knowledge transfer to practice.
  • The findings highlight the persistent barriers in applying academic insights to accounting standards, showcasing how design science can drive practical change by bridging the gap between research and policymaking. This study provides a proof of concept for addressing typical knowledge transfer challenges to accounting regulators and standard setters via a structured research synthesis approach.

What does it take to bridge the knowledge gap between academic research and practice, particularly in the case of audit and accounting standard setting? Steve Salterio and his co-authors explore strategies for systematic information transfer in their paper, published in Contemporary Accounting Research. Previous research indicates possible methods for such transfer, but none of them have proved to be consistently effective,leading to charges that academic accounting and auditing research is divorced from practice. However, Salterio and his colleagues’ research proposes and demonstrates a key mechanism that allows academic audit research to impact practice through influencing the standard setting and regulatory processes.

A research synthesis approach systematically reviews and evaluates all relevant evidence, not just selective findings, to provide clear, practical recommendations. Originating in evidence-based medicine, this method has improved patient outcomes by fostering effective communication between biomedical research and practice, ensuring consistent evidence interpretation, avoiding reliance on weak findings, and balancing benefits and risks. Salterio and his colleagues examined whether applying this approach to other fields, such as accounting or auditing, could similarly improve decision-making and policy effectiveness.

Through a real-time simulation with expert standard setters, the study provides a proof of concept for using research synthesis to address policy questions, identifying necessary adaptations for the audit context, such as iterative practitioner engagement and clear communication. Despite challenges like managing expectations and scoping questions, the findings highlight the potential for systematic research syntheses to improve knowledge transfer, offering a scalable framework for collaboration between academics and policymakers in audit and accounting standard-setting.