Is Neuroaccounting Taking a Place on the Stage? A Review of the Influence of Neuroscience on Accounting Research

Abstract

Insights and technologies from neuroscience research can help accounting scholars more deeply understand how decision-makers physically and cognitively process and react to accounting information and controls. We conduct a systematic review of accounting literature to evaluate whether and how accounting scholars are incorporating neuroscience research into their work and building a field of 'neuroaccounting.' To do so, we identify literature that relates accounting research questions to neuroscience research, addresses accounting questions or tasks but has implications for neuroscience or neuroaccounting research, or investigates accounting questions using neuroscience technologies. We then classify that literature into two broad topic areas analogous to the decision-facilitating (how individuals process information) and decision-influencing (how individuals respond to controls) roles of accounting, and map relationships within each topic over time. We observe that literature in accounting is coalescing into a new field, neuroaccounting, in ways that mirror the pattern of development of a similar field, neuroeconomics -indicating that neuroaccounting is indeed taking a place on the stage of behavioral accounting research. Our review provides a framework for future research at the nexus of neuroscience and accounting that provides unique insights into the 'black box' of cognitive processing in accounting contexts.

Mapping Ethics Education in Accounting Research: A Bibliometric Analysis

“…As this stream of research focuses on the development of brain structures, it must thus be supported by both neuroscience and psychology (Narvaez, 2008 ). The literature review of Tank and Farrell ( 2021 ) shows that neuro-accounting has attracted the attention of researchers only from 2007, so it is not surprising that it has not yet developed in the subfield of ethics education. Future research could therefore expand the existing theoretical background so as to include other theories that are not yet as well applied, which could lead to additional clusters within the historiography of ethics education in accounting.…”

Interdisciplinary Approach to Biological and Health Implications in Selected Professional Competences

“…One of these was neuroeconomics, which combined the findings of psychology, neuroscience, and economics, and so permitted broad, multi-aspect research into the complex occurrences happening during or just before decision-making. Thus, through analysis, understanding, and the ability to interpret thought processes, situations connected with money, investment, management, and assuming financial risk could be studied [ 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 28 ].…”

“…Behavioral research aims at defining the actual process of deciding, causing an increase in in financial reporting effectiveness as an instrument of data communication [ 1 ]. For some time, neuroaccounting [ 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 ] has been gaining in popularity within the specialist literature, demonstrating that the academics have noticed the essential role that neurobiology can play in shaping expertise essential to the financial sector. Despite the fact that the biological mechanism associated with susceptibility to financial risk has been very well described [ 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 ], little or no data explain the biological basis for neuroaccounting.…”

“…The cognitive neuroscience method and the neuroaccounting theory are used to explain the behavior of enterprises in terms of decision-making within corporate social responsibility [ 5 , 16 ]. So far, researchers have provided explanatory data identifying functional networks that constitute distinct and vast areas of the nervous system that work together to coordinate cognition and behavior [ 17 , 18 ].…”

The Dilemma of Information Overload: A Review of Literature from Accounting and Finance Related Studies

“…Moreover, this study came through an interesting phenomenon in accounting which is called 'neuro accounting' where Tank & Farrell (2021) conducted a review that explains the influence of neuroscience in the accounting context. They revealed that studies in behavioral accounting are important because the accounting information provided for decision-makers is highly impacted by their cognitive ability.…”