This paper examines the positive (scientific) approach to accounting research, defined here as any research intended to understand objective causes of human behaviour in accounting settings. It presents a set of ontological and epistemological assumptions which are minimally required for...

Building on Romano's recent analysis of the United States securities regulatory regime, we model competition between professional auditing associations. We show that such competition is an effective substitute for government regulation, providing an efficient means for auditors to signal their...

Building on Romano's analysis of the U.S. securities regulatory regime, we model competition between professional auditing associations. We show that such competition is an effective substitute for government regulation, providing an efficient means for auditors to signal their service quality....