Reviewed by Robert J. Bricker The Ohio State University
It is important for accounting scholars to have knowledge about literature related to their area of inquiry. Even if interdis-ciplinary literature is disregarded, it is difficult to keep up with literature published in accounting journals, although this has been made easier by indexes such as the Accountant’s Index, and by various extended bibliographies. Accounting articles published in non-accounting journals are even less accessible.
Scholars interested in identifying accounting literature relevant to their work in non-accounting journals face a daunting task.
This book identifies accounting literature in a set of non-accounting journals. The first eighteen pages discuss the method used in developing the annotated bibliography and its taxonom-ization. Using Ulrich’s International Periodicals Directory, eighty-eight important non-accounting journals (seventy not counting journal name changes) ultimately were selected for use from the disciplines of actuarial science, economics, finance, operations research, and statistics (listed on pages 19-21). The list of journals was originally more extensive. However, journals were excluded if the author judged them to be accounting journal equivalents.
Accounting articles were identified by searching titles and by reviewing the substance of individual articles. Most journals were searched from volume 1 — the earliest being volume 1 of The Assurance Magazine (1851, one accounting article iden-tified). In total, 460 accounting articles were identified. An annotated reference for each accounting article was prepared, and each article was classified using a variation of CCH’s Accounting Articles taxonomy. Articles are listed in the book in taxonomic order, and a separate index of authors’ names appears on pages 213-224.
This database is most useful for referencing accounting articles in the fields of actuarial science, economics, and statis-tics, which among them contain 81 of the 88 (unadjusted for journal name changes) journals studied. The taxonomy used is unidimensional, and provides for quick referencing within the set of taxons. The visual layout of the individual references is good. The individual references are well prepared and the abstracts are concise and easy to understand. The author largely avoided the use of cryptic phrases in favor of longer but far more useful comments.
A different approach to taxonomization and a somewhat different mix of non-accounting journals might have increased the useability of the database. While the CCH taxonomy is detailed, it is nonetheless unidimensational and classifies arti-cles by subject-matter. The author ameliorates this condition to some degree by classifying articles under both a primary and secondary category (although still on subject-matter) and by providing the author index. A different taxonomization approach is used by Vasarhelyi and Berk, as noted by the author, which classifies articles multidimensionally — for example in terms of research-method and foundation-discipline (among others) in addition to subject matter. This approach, of course, would have required additional indexes for referencing articles. Some also may question the choice of journals covered — particularly in terms of 1) disciplinary coverage and 2) the author’s categorization of accounting-equivalent and non-accounting journals. Some disciplines, such as sociology, history, psychology, organizational science, and management are notably absent. In others, some important journals are missing. In political science, for example, which is covered in the database under “economics,” journals such as Public Choice might have been included. One way to identify potential accounting articles in non-accounting journals not included in this database would be to examine their citations of accounting journals, as summarized in the Social Science Citation Index. Journals with high accounting journal citation rates probably also publish accounting-related articles.
Some of the journals excluded from the database for being accounting journal equivalents appear to be more similar to accounting than some that were excluded. The database ex-cludes the Journal of Law and Economics and Industrial and Labor Relations Review as accounting journal equivalents, yet includes the Journal of Business, the Journal of Finance, and Management Science as non-accounting journals. Not surpris-ingly, these last three journals contain about one-quarter of the database’s articles.
Despite these features, Accounting Literature in Non-Accounting Journals can be a useful and time-saving tool for accounting scholars who are interested in exploring the periodical accounting literature published in the covered non-accounting journals. It is certainly commendable in this way as the first work of its type.
