Answers have been sought to questions such asthe following two for more than a decade: Why do accounting academics conductresearch, and how important is this research to practice? This is not an easytask though. Academics’ and practitioners’ agendas, interests and approachesseem to be different, thus creating a gap between accounting academic researchand practice. Various initiatives are intended to bridge this gap, to thebenefit of academia, practice and students. Academics would integrate real-lifedata into their research and teaching, practitioners could find informedsolutions to their immediate and future problems, and students would get abetter understanding of the challenges and opportunities they will face in thefuture as professional accountants.