The papers appearing in this AAAJ ebook cover a range of issues and from them we understand that self-regulation comes from professionalization, that systems of professional self-regulation (or co-regulation) at the national level have been transformed into the systems of global self-regulation. Also there is a growing level of scholarly engagement with transnational regimes of accounting regulation and the emerging portrayal of such regimes as arenas characterized by multiple actors, agendas, and strategies of influence.

Each of the papers is very different, but all of the papers appearing in this AAAJ special issue further the discourse on the transnational regulation of accounting—which is on its own an important objective. We envision that much more will be done from this point on and we suggest that the path into the future should ideally involve coordinated, cooperative, and complementary efforts by various parties and will encompass more research by the academic community that is informed by consultations with national and global regulators and with the professional and business communities internationally. For this to happen there needs to be a concerted effort on the part of researchers, regulators, and other stakeholders to gather and address the issues, particularly where they relate to an urgent need for policy, and we hope and expect to see symposia that will enable this.

We hope to assist in furthering the development of the transnational regulation of accounting, as researchers and educators, and also by helping to collaboratively direct and coordinate some of the other activities outlined above in consultation with our academic colleagues and with interested stakeholders in business and in government, with regulators, and with professional accounting bodies, standard setting organizations, and other entities that are invested in the achieving the outcomes we seek.