What is the Actual Economic Role of Financial Reporting?

Ball, Ray

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What is the Actual Economic Role of Financial Reporting?

Accounting Horizons, Vol. 22, No. 4, 2008

12 Pages Posted: 28 May 2008 Last revised: 9 Mar 2009

See all articles by Ray Ball

Ray Ball

University of Chicago - Booth School of Business

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Abstract

This short essay is based on a presentation at the panel discussion on Big Unanswered Questions in Accounting at the American Accounting Association Meetings in 2007. It poses the question: what is the actual economic role of financial reporting? and discusses why this question is important, why it is unanswered, and what types of inventive research design are needed to help answer it. Examples are given of the types of questions involved.

Keywords: financial reporting, accounting, research design

JEL Classification: M41

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Ball, Ray, What is the Actual Economic Role of Financial Reporting?. Accounting Horizons, Vol. 22, No. 4, 2008, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1138218