Book excerpt: The scope of service provided by professional accountants is influenced by legislation and case law as well as the dictates of a variety of government and private sector agencies; including State Boards of Accountancy, Academic Accreditation Bodies, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, independent standard setting bodies such as the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board [US], the Financial Accounting Standards Board [US], and self-regulatory organizations such as State Societies of CPAs and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. There are equivalent and emerging national bodies that exist in most developed and developing countries, and further there are emerging global coordinating entities as well, which attempt to coordinate the activities among nations. It is important for academics, students, practitioners, regulators and researchers to consider, study and understand the role and relationship of such bodies with the practice and content of our discipline. Research in Accounting Regulation is a refereed annual serial that seeks to publish high quality manuscripts, which address regulatory issues and policy affecting the practice of accountancy, broadly defined. Topics of interest include research based upon: self-regulatory activities, case law and litigation, government and quasi-governmental regulation, and the economics of regulation, including modeling. The serial aims to encourage the submission of original empirical, behavioral or applied research manuscripts that consider strategic and policy implications for regulation, regulatory models and markets.