Building IASB Research Capacity: A Commentary

This Commentary summarizes and remarks on several discussions of the link between academic accounting research and financial reporting standard setting. Our Commentary is prompted by references to building the International Accounting Standards Board's (IASB) research capacity, included in three due process documents: Report of the Trustees' Strategy Review, IFRSs as the Global Standard: Setting a Strategy for the Foundation's Second Decade; Agenda Consultation 2011; and Feedback Statement: Agenda Consultation 2011. Pursuant to its mission, the International Association for Accounting Education and Research (IAAER) has undertaken activities, including hosting two roundtables, related to the link between academic accounting research (and researchers) and the IASB's standard‐setting activities. We discuss the main issues addressed and themes emerging from the IAAER roundtables including whether academic research is relevant to standard setters; types of academic research, and areas of inquiry, that would be most relevant to accounting standard setters; perceptions on why academic research is not more useful to standard setters and challenges to academic researcher's engagement in standard setting. We summarize the IAAER Committee response to the consultation paper, Status of Trustees' Strategy Review. Finally, we identify areas where we believe academia can assist in building a dedicated research capacity at the IASB and note specific areas where future academic research is needed to inform the IASB.