The role of academic research in policy debates: a 1990 survey of student responses to the 150‐hour rule

Accounting professionals have been disappointed in the 150‐hour rule's impact on attracting high quality students to the accounting profession and directing them to the appropriate type of preparation for entry level positions. Rather than attracting good students to the accounting profession, the rule is viewed as a barrier to entry and students are encouraged to specialize too early in their career rather than get the broad educational background envisioned by its proponents. This paper presents a survey that indicated these negative consequences were possible, but it was not published by accounting journals. Journal editors may have been influenced by the AICPA's and AAA's campaign to implement the 150‐hour rule and were hesitant to publish findings that cast doubt on realizing the benefits touted by proponents. The lesson to be learned is that academic journals should provide research that supports debate of controversial issues and not skew the outcome of the debate by allowing only research that favors one position to be published.