Accounting and Auditing Research and Databases: Practitioner's Desk Reference

What Is Research?

The objective of conducting any type of research, including professional accounting, auditing, and tax research, is a systematic investigation of an issue or problem utilizing the researcher's professional judgment. Following are two examples of generalized research problems that can provide insight as to the types of research questions confronting the accounting practitioner:

1. A recent client has requested your assistance with the following issue: The client manufactures precision parts to customers’ specifications. Parts that are produced by the client are inspected by a quality control representative and then held in a secured area in the plant. The client is entitled to full contract payment on parts inspected and held in the secured area. In the past, there has been a short time span between completion date and scheduled shipment. However, recently, production efficiency has improved to the extent that contracts are completed well in advance of scheduled shipment dates. Based on the recent experience of the client, what is the proper date for revenue recognition?

2. A controller for a construction contracting company faces the following problem: The company pays for rights allowing it to extract a specified volume of landfill from a project for a specified period of time. How should the company classify the payments for such landfill rights in its financial statements?¹

Research is often classified as either theoretical research or applied research. ...