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Where There’s a Will… The Research-Practice Gap in Accounting

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The Research-Practice Gap on Accounting in the Public Services

Part of the book series: Public Sector Financial Management ((PUSEFIMA))

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Abstract

In this chapter, I engage with recent empirical research I have been involved with in investigating the important question of how research may become a closer companion to practice and address three questions central to the research-practice debate:

  1. 1.

    How prevalent is the research-practice gap?

  2. 2.

    How has the research-practice gap been investigated?

  3. 3.

    How, if at all, might research become a closer companion to practice?

These questions are by no means restricted to the public sector, and their consideration in a more general context may be valuable for both researchers and practitioners interested in the nexus between research and practice.

Basil Tucker

UniSA Business School, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA, Australia

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Notes

  1. 1.

    For example, through the move to tertiary-trained nurses, incorporation of research as a component of training, engagement with research as a prerequisite for continued registration or accreditation, and the establishment of academic journals such as Evidence-Based Nursing, Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing, Research and Theory for Nursing Practice, dedicated to publishing expositions on this aspect of nursing.

  2. 2.

    For example: Accounting & Business Research, 2014, Vol. 44, No. 2; Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management, 2012, Vol. 9 No. 3; Management Accounting Research, 2010, Vol. 21 No. 2; Australian Accounting Review, 2010, Vol. 20 No. 1.

  3. 3.

    For example, Ratnatunga (2012), Parker et al. (2011), and Scapens and Bromwich (2010).

  4. 4.

    For example, American Accounting Association (Management Accounting Section), Florida, 2014; Asia Pacific Interdisciplinary Research in Accounting, Kobe, 2013; Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, Melbourne, 2012; Centre for Accounting, Governance and Sustainability, Adelaide, 2011; Management Accounting Research Group, London School of Economics, London, 2009; and, the Global Management Accounting Research Symposium, Sydney, 2005.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Durham University Business School, Durham University, Durham, UK

    Laurence Ferry

  2. Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany

    Iris Saliterer

  3. Newcastle University London, London, UK

    Ileana Steccolini

  4. UniSA Business School, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA, Australia

    Basil Tucker

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Ferry, L., Saliterer, I., Steccolini, I., Tucker, B. (2019). Where There’s a Will… The Research-Practice Gap in Accounting. In: The Research-Practice Gap on Accounting in the Public Services. Public Sector Financial Management. Palgrave Pivot, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99432-1_2

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