engage with different research paradigms. But academic
endeavour is not always as collegial as one might expect,
or hope. The history of accounting thought reveals serious
disagreements between thinkers committed both to different
research approaches and to the same method of
inquiry.
This work contributes to our understanding of debates
about the competing priorities of accounting thinkers during
the life-cycle of ARIA, 1974–1993—a research group
created by a desire to improve the quality of accounting
information and its usefulness for informing and guiding
financial decision making. ARIA began with four Fellows
among whom the inaugural President, Robert ‘‘Bob’’ Ster-