The Elephant in the Room: p-hacking and Accounting Research

Gow Ian D. ()
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Gow Ian D.: University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

Accounting, Economics, and Law: A Convivium, 2025, vol. 15, issue 1, 81-98

Abstract: Ohlson (2025. Empirical accounting seminars: Elephants in the room. Accounting, Economics, and Law: A Convivium 15, 1–8) draws on his experience in empirical accounting seminars to identify five “elephants in the room”. I interpret each of these elephants as either a variant or a symptom of p-hacking. I provide evidence of the prevalence of p-hacking in accounting research that complements the observations made by Ohlson (2025. Empirical accounting seminars: Elephants in the room. Accounting, Economics, and Law: A Convivium 15, 1–8). In this paper, I identify a number of steps that could be taken to reduce p-hacking in accounting research. I conjecture that facilitating and encouraging replication alone could have profound effects on the quality and quantity of empirical accounting research.

Keywords: empirical accounting research; p-hacking; empirical methods (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C1 M (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1515/ael-2022-0111

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