A review of meta-analytic research in accounting

Abstract

This study reviews the use of meta-analysis in accounting research. We categorize the meta-analytic research into five topics: financial reporting, auditing, corporate governance and accounting quality, management accounting, and miscellaneous topics. Further, we classify the studies by the meta-analysis technique employed: Hunter et al. (1982), Hunter and Schmidt (2000), Lipsey and Wilson (2001), and Stouffer’s approach. We identify 27 meta-analytical studies over the period 1985–2014 with financial reporting (auditing) topics representing seven (six) of these studies. Our review highlights that meta-analytic methods are being applied and accepted, more frequently, to answer complex questions concerning the moderating effects of country-level variables, such as national culture, economic conditions, and institutional characteristics, on various associations of interest.

Citation

Khlif, H. and Chalmers, K. (2015), "A review of meta-analytic research in accounting", Journal of Accounting Literature, Vol. 35 No. 1, pp. 1-27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acclit.2015.09.001