LOBBYING IN ACCOUNTING REGULATION: A BIBLIOMETRIC STUDY IN MAJOR INTERNATIONAL JOURNALS FROM 2002 TO 2015

Abstract

Objective: Faced with the influence of preparation, edition and issuance of accounting standards process, the aim of this article was to analyze the level of consonance between the scientific research on the lobbying activity in accounting regulation, present in the main international journals, in the period of 2002 to 2015. Background: Researchers such as Bushman & Landsman (2010); Carmo (2014); Kothari, Ramanna, & Skinner (2010) and Leuz & Wysocki (2008) certify that research about the factors influencing accounting regulation in global markets and research about political forces that affect the regulatory process are scarce and under-explored. Given thiAs a consequence, it is fundamental to analyze the studies that approached the subject, based on bibliometric performance indicators, useful for the evaluation of academic research. Thus, this study has two aspects: bibliometric-descriptive and epistemological-descriptive. Method: The research was based on the Systematic Search Flow method, with the search for scientific studies in the main international journals, published on the Scopus, Web of Science, Scielo and ProQuest platforms, using the key words ``Lobby{''}, ``Lobbying{''} and ``Accounting{''}, from 2002 to 2015 and with the languages in English and Portuguese. Then, there was a stratification, excluding duplicate articles from the platforms and those that did not refer to lobby/lobbying in the scope of accounting regulation, obtaining a sample with 43 articles. Results: The main results identified are segregated into two categories. The first is about a general analysis with the following conclusions: The largest number of publications was carried out in 2015; The United Kingdom is the country with the largest amount of publication on the topic; Author Georgiou G. published the largest amount of article; And, ``Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal{''} was the most widely published journal. The second category of results has to do with textual analysis, concluding that ``Lobbying{''} is the most used keyword; The predominant methodology was the analysis of comment letters; The study of Sutton (1984) was highlighted as having been the most referenced; And the main result of the researches shows that large companies tend to lead lobbying on accounting regulation, in order to influence the regulator for the purpose of obtain a standard that suits their interests. Contributions: Researchers can use this research as a reliable source of the state of the art on participation and influence in accounting regulation, from 2002 to 2015, drawn from leading international journals. In addition, the study also has contributions to the regulations, in order to identify the main methods of lobbying and stakeholders in the normative accounting process.