Accounting research has long struggled with understanding policy, often assuming that observed reporting requirements are either exogenous or the product of a quasi-experimental process whose consequences can be examined in isolation of its environment. Our approach offers a starting point for a rigorous analysis of the causal determinants of policy. This broader research agenda can take us closer to an understanding of the institutions that surround accounting policy and, in particular, answer questions such as why we see commonalities in reporting rules and what frictions can affect the output of the rule-making process. In doing so, we hope that researchers can achieve a more direct look at the accounting institution that writes accounting rules rather than only focus on its output.