Abstract Reviews the book "Information Analysis," by Joel S. Demski.

Creating and implementing an overall research strategy for behavioral accounting will be a difficult task, and one, which runs counter to intellectual history. The autonomy of inquiry syndrome is deeply ingrained, particularly in researchers susceptible to what has been labeled the usual over differentiation of product that is the trademark of original thinkers. Many branches of behavioral science are bemoaning their own lack of replication and helter-skelter leaps forward. The point is that the behavioral accounting movement is new enough and malleable enough to proceed in a concerted fashion. Recent articles summing up the state of the research art in accounting are indicative of this formative stage. The problems are quite evident. The phenomena under study are complex. Reliable effects may be demonstrated in controlled laboratory situations, and yet their application to uncontrolled practice fails to show the desired results. Either the interactions present in practice must be understood and controlled or else field experiments must be specifically designed to test and extend lab findings. The behavioral accounting researcher need not worry that he is displacing the worker in the more behavioral disciplines.

Reviews the book "Cost Accounting: Accounting Data for Management's Decisions," by Nicholas Dopuch and Jacob G. Birnberg.