Jae workflow

Journal of Accounting and Economics Workflow (jae-workflow)

Overview

This is the router. It does not replace any specialized skill; it tells you which jae- skill to use right now* for your JAE manuscript.

Default assumption: unless the user says otherwise, treat the target as JAE — the Elsevier journal founded in 1979 by Ross L. Watts and Jerold L. Zimmerman (the originators of Positive Accounting Theory), published bimonthly (ISSN 0165-4101). JAE exists to apply economic theory to explain accounting phenomena: the role of accounting within the firm; the information content of accounting numbers in capital markets; accounting in financial contracting and the monitoring of agency relationships; the determination of accounting standards; and the regulation of corporate disclosure and the accounting profession. The non-negotiable bar is an economics-based argument tested with large-sample archival data (or built as an analytical model) — not normative, behavioral, or practitioner-oriented work. Editors desk-reject or redirect (Article Transfer Service) papers that miss this economics-relevance bar.

Editorial team and policies change: verify the current masthead on ScienceDirect before naming editors or associate editors. The submission fee and Highlights/JEL requirements must be reconfirmed on the live Guide for Authors before upload.

When to trigger

• "What should I do next?" with a half-built JAE manuscript
• You have a Compustat/CRSP result but no economics-based story for it
• A reviewer pushes on identification or on "what is the economic mechanism?"
• You received a JAE decision letter and need to switch into response mode
• You keep bouncing between theory, identification, and writing without a plan

Routing table

Current symptom	Next skill
Idea is vague; unsure it is economics-based or JAE-fit (vs JAR/TAR/RAST)	jae-topic-selection
Predictions are descriptive; no economic mechanism (agency/info/contracting)	jae-theory-development
Front end reads as gap-spotting; the economics literature not engaged	jae-literature-positioning
Design may not identify the effect (endogeneity, selection, reverse causality)	jae-methods
Have data; unsure about sample construction, FE, clustering, estimators	jae-data-analysis
Results exist but the "so what for accounting/economics" is thin	jae-contribution-framing
Tables overloaded, off Elsevier style, or not self-explanatory	jae-tables-figures
Prose is verbose, hedged, or buries the prediction	jae-writing-style
Ready to submit; need the Editorial Manager + fee preflight	jae-submission
Want to understand JAE double-anonymized review before/after submit	jae-review-process
Received an R&R; need to plan and draft the response	jae-rebuttal

Default order

1. jae-topic-selection — lock an economics-based question with JAE fit
2. jae-theory-development — specify the economic mechanism and derive predictions
3. jae-literature-positioning — engage the positive-accounting / economics conversation
4. jae-methods — design for identification (shocks, IV, DiD) matched to the prediction
5. jae-data-analysis — sample construction, fixed effects, two-way clustering, robustness
6. jae-contribution-framing — turn results into a contribution to accounting + economics
7. jae-tables-figures — finalize exhibits in Elsevier house style
8. jae-writing-style — full-manuscript prose polish
9. jae-submission — Editorial Manager preflight (anonymization, Highlights, JEL, fee)
10. jae-review-process — set expectations for double-anonymized, editor-final review
11. jae-rebuttal — after an R&R, plan revisions then draft the response letter

jae-tables-figures and jae-writing-style are late-stage polish. Do not invoke them while the identification strategy or economic mechanism is still unsettled.

Stage ledger (fill in before asking "what next?")

Keep this ledger with the manuscript and update it each working session; the first stage still marked open names the next skill to invoke.

# JAE manuscript stage ledger
manuscript: "<working title>"
target: Journal of Accounting and Economics (JAE)
stages:
  economics_question:  {skill: jae-topic-selection,         status: open, evidence: "economics-based question stated; JAE fit vs JAR/TAR/RAST argued"}
  mechanism:           {skill: jae-theory-development,      status: open, evidence: "agency / information / contracting channel named; predictions derived"}
  positioning:         {skill: jae-literature-positioning,  status: open, evidence: "positive-accounting conversation engaged, not gap-spotted"}
  identification:      {skill: jae-methods,                 status: open, evidence: "shock / IV / DiD design matched to the prediction"}
  estimation:          {skill: jae-data-analysis,           status: open, evidence: "sample, fixed effects, two-way clustering, robustness done"}
  contribution:        {skill: jae-contribution-framing,    status: open, evidence: "so-what for accounting AND economics written"}
  exhibits:            {skill: jae-tables-figures,          status: blocked_until: [identification, estimation]}
  prose:               {skill: jae-writing-style,           status: blocked_until: [identification, estimation]}
  preflight:           {skill: jae-submission,              status: open, evidence: "anonymization, Highlights, JEL codes, fee reconfirmed on live Guide for Authors"}
routing_rule: "Next skill = first stage with status: open, respecting blocked_until."
after_decision: "R&R received -> jae-review-process for expectations, then jae-rebuttal only after the revision itself is done."

Difference vs. JAR / TAR / RAST / JFE stacks

• JAE: economics-based positive accounting; Watts-Zimmerman tradition; voluntary Elsevier data-sharing default; fee-bearing submission; double-anonymized; editor-final model.
• JAR (Chicago/Wiley): also top-3 archival, but mandates a replication/code package.
• TAR (AAA flagship): broader methodological tent (experimental, analytical, archival).
• RAST (Review of Accounting Studies): archival capital-markets, often valuation-focused.
• JFE (finance): mandates a Mendeley Data code/data deposit — a sharper open-science bar than JAE.

If your paper is normative, behavioral-experimental, or practitioner-facing, JAE is the wrong venue.

Anti-patterns

• Do not skip jae-theory-development and submit a "Compustat correlation" with no economic mechanism.
• Do not let jae-tables-figures beautify exhibits before identification is settled.
• Do not let jae-rebuttal draft a response before the manuscript is actually revised.
• Do not treat jae-writing-style as a substitute for identification — polish cannot rescue endogeneity.