To commemorate the millennium, the Journal of Accounting and Economics invited nine author-teams to write critical review papers on the major research areas in accounting. In addition, discussants were asked to write reviews of the critiques. The critiques and their reviews were presented at a conference sponsored by the Brattle Group and Irwin/McGraw-Hill in Rochester, NY in April 2000. The authors and discussants then had about ten months to revise their manuscripts before publication in volumes 31-32 of the Journal of Accounting and Economics.

The critiques and their reviews comprise a remarkable collection of papers. Not only were the leading researchers in the field contributors, but the scope and depth of their analyses is in general unparalleled. This volume provides the reader not just an up-to-date synopsis of the various accounting sub-fields, but also an in-depth analysis of the current controversies. Often critique authors and their discussants express widely divergent opinions. Such disagreement offers an encouraging signal that there remain many interesting, open research questions and that our prominent scholars find these issues exciting. It is hoped that this volume will contribute to further progress in accounting research.