This document provides details on formatting and layout requirements pertaining to both initial and final manuscript submissions to The North American Accounting Studies.

Formatting Requirements

• An abstract should not exceed 150 words.
• Submit your manuscript, including tables, figures, appendices, etc., as a single MS Word file.
• Page size should be 8.5 x 11-inches.
• All margins (left, right, top and bottom) should be 1 inch, including tables and figures.
• Single space your text.
• • Use a single column layout that is left margin justified.
• Font:
  1. Main Body—12-Point Times New Roman
  2. Footnotes—10-Point Times New Roman
• If figures are included, use high-resolution figures; ensure images are not distorted through inappropriate sizing.
• Proof your manuscript carefully and according to requirements stated below.
• When possible, there should be no pages where more than a quarter of the page is empty space.

Additional Recommendations

Indenting, Line Spacing, and Justification

Indent the first line of every paragraph. To be consistent, use the tab key.

Do not insert extra space between paragraphs of text with the exception of long quotations, theorems, propositions, special remarks, etc. These should be set off from the surrounding text by additional space above and below.
Don't "widow" or "orphan" text (i.e., ending a page with the first line of a paragraph or beginning a page with the last line of a paragraph).
All text should be left justified

Language & Grammar

All submissions must be in English. Except for common foreign words and phrases, the use of foreign words and phrases should be avoided.

Authors should use proper, standard English grammar. The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr. and E. B. White (now in its fourth edition) is the "standard" guide, but other excellent guides (e.g., The Chicago Manual of Style, University of Chicago Press) exist as well. Spacing after punctuation marks requires one space after punctuation including at the end of a sentence. Place periods and commas within closing single or double quotation marks. Place other punctuation marks inside quotation marks only when they are part of the quoted material.

Article Length

Authors should limit articles to no more than 20 pages, including tables, footnotes, and references.

Colored text

Set the font color to black for all of the text.

Please ensure that there are no colored mark-ups or comments in the final version, unless they are meant to be part of the final text.(Use "accept all changes" in track changes or set the document to "normal" in final markup.)

Emphasized text

Whenever possible use italics to indicate text to be emphasize rather than underlining it.

Foreign terms

Whenever possible, foreign terms should be set in italics rather than underlined.

Headings

Headings should be formatted as follows:
Level 1 heading, and Abstract should be Centered, Bold, Uppercase and Lowercase; font size 12-Point Times New Roman
Level 2 heading should be flush left, Bold Uppercase and Lowercase; 12-Point Times New Roman
Level 3 heading should be indented, Bold Uppercase and Lowercase; 12-Point Times New Roman
Do not label headings with numbers.

Main text

The font for the main body of text must be black and should be set in 12-Point Times New Roman.

Titles

Whenever possible, titles of books, movies, etc., should be set in italics rather than underlined.

Footnotes

Footnotes should appear at the bottom of the page on which they are referenced rather than at the end of the paper. Footnotes should be in 10-Points Times New Roman, single spaced, and include a footnote separator rule (line). Footnote numbers or symbols in the text must follow, rather than precede, punctuation. Excessively long footnotes are probably better handled in an appendix. All footnotes should be left-justified.

Tables and Figures

To the extent possible, tables and figures should appear in the document near where they are referenced in the text. Large tables or figures should be put on pages by themselves. Avoid the use of overly small type in tables. In no case should tables or figures be in a separate document or file. All tables and figures must fit within 1" margins on all sides (top, bottom, left and right) in both portrait and landscape view.

Mathematics

Roman letters used in mathematical expressions as variables should be italicized. Roman letters used as part of multi-letter function names should not be italicized. Whenever possible, subscripts and superscripts should be a smaller font size than the main text. Short mathematical expressions should be typed inline. Longer expressions should appear on a single line, with equations numbered sequentially on the left. Symbols and notation in unusual fonts should be avoided.

Citation and References

In-text citations, works are cited as follow: author last name and year, without a comma, in parentheses. For example: one author, (Defond 2010); two authors, (Gunny and Zhang 2013); three to five authors, (Abbott, Gunny, and Zhang 2013); six or more authors, (Smith et al. 2017); more than one work cited, (Defond, 2010; Gunny and Zhang 2013; Abbott, Gunny, and Zhang 2013). For repeated citations of works that have three or more authors, use only the first author’s last name followed by “et al.”: first citation, Abbott, Gunny, and Zhang (2013); subsequent citations, Abbott et al. (2013).

Reference List:

The References list should contain only those works cited within the text. Arrange citations in alphabetical order according to the last name of the first author followed by initials. The date of the publication should follow the names, and titles of journals are not abbreviated.

Sample Reference Entries:

Abbott, L., K. Gunny, and T. Zhang. 2013. When the PCAOB talks, who listens? Evidence from stakeholder reaction to GAAP-deficient PCAOB inspection reports of small auditors. Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory 32 (2): 1–31.

Aobdia, D. 2016. The Impact of the PCAOB Individual Engagement Inspection Process—Preliminary Evidence. Working paper, Northwestern University.

Bills, K. L., D. C. Jeter, and S. E. Stein. 2015. Auditor industry specialization and evidence of cost efficiencies in homogenous industries. The Accounting Review 90 (5): 1721–1754.

Carcello, J. V., C. Hollingsworth, and S. A. Mastrolia. 2011. The effect of PCAOB inspections on Big 4 audit quality. Research in Accounting Regulation 23 (2): 85–96.

Casterella, J. R., J. R. Francis, B. L. Lewis, and P. L. Walker. 2004. Auditor industry specialization, client bargaining power, and audit pricing. Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory 23 (1): 123–140.

Church, B. K., and L. B. Shefchik. 2012. PCAOB inspections and large accounting firms. Accounting Horizons 26 (1): 43–63.