Criteria and Application Procedure for AFA Research Grants

OBJECTIVES

	To encourage research for the development of various dimensions of accounting and accountancy profession in the South East Asia region.
	To encourage the production of original learning materials that would broaden and enrich the region’s accounting profession.

CRITERIA

Research grants will be granted for valuable, insightful, and creative work that advances the mission of AFA. Research grant applications will be evaluated in light of the specificity and significance of an applicant's proposed project. All projects will be evaluated in light of the probability of their fruition within a reasonable time, given the scope of the project in question.

In evaluating whether a project would likely be completed within a reasonable time, consideration will be given to the magnitude of the project, the work the applicant has already done prior to proposal submission, and the applicant's productivity of previous research work.

Eligibility Criteria

Applicants for Research Grants must be a national of an Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Member States. Prior to the consideration of the AFA Council, the Research Proposal must be approved and endorsed by the AFA member body where the Applicant originated from.

Research projects which are already fully funded by another grant or awards from another agency, foundation, institution will not be eligible for this Grant. AFA however, may reserve the right to partially fund a project which is already partially funded by another agency, subject to the provisions of the original grant. In the case where the applicant had already received more than one grant or fellowship for the same project, details of the earlier grant should be included in the application.

Evaluation Criteria

For AFA’s consideration, research projects need:

(i)	Focused Research Question. Proposals must be supported by clear research questions or proposals for developing them. Projects should be directed towards meaningful and value added outcomes. Results of the research project should contribute the overall understanding of accounting development in South East Asia. Such contribution must be communicated to and used by the region’s accounting profession. Additional consideration will be given to those project proposals that can potentially be of value to other accounting professional organizations around the world.
(ii)	Convincing Contribution to the Accounting Domain. Researchers must be able to demonstrate that their proposed work can build upon what is already known about the specific area or topic being studied. Projects need to show that they will make a systematic and cumulative contribution to what is known already about the accounting development, accounting practice, accounting structure, and accounting standards of South East Asia (and/or other world regions). In addition, researchers must demonstrate that their work opens other opportunities for future research.
(iii)	Sound, Clear, and Valid Research Methods. Researchers need to show that they: have a clear, reasonable, and feasible research strategy have clear goals in any observations or interviews being planned are able to collect data necessary for the project in a practical, systematic, and ethical manner can obtain permission from relevant parties when using proprietary data for research analysis are able to use appropriate econometric techniques for research analysis can conduct the research in a relevant field of investigation use consistent logic when analyzing and interpreting data have their proposal be first extensively critiqued and meet the quality standards of the researcher's institution before submission to AFA. have feasible arrangements for communicating inference of their finding with accounting professionals, accounting academics, or accounting standard setters
(iv)	Have Strategy for Communicating and Presenting the Research. Researchers will need to: make arrangements to present their research findings in an AFA conference setting make arrangement to publicly communicate implications of research findings to accountants (professionals, academics, standard setters, etc.) submit their work for peer review (both academic and professional) as determined by the AFA research committee generate a well written research report or other materials for publication in formats that is relevant for professional journals or research journals prepare a short summary designed to attract other accountants to make an informed judgement about whether the research output is relevant to them

APPLICATION PROCEDURES

Application Requirements

All applications for AFA Research Grants must include:

	Information on the Application (contact and background information, current curriculum vitae) and Co- Applicant(s), if applicable.
	Research proposal (limited to 7 single-spaced pages) that addresses the following:
	- Brief review of relevant issue - Description of the issue and its importance and relevance to AFA - Description of methodology including proposed data set and criteria for selecting data file, sample (e.g., groups used, exclusions to sample, and estimated sample sizes),variables (including selection of variables and rationale for, using them), and analytic techniques - Importance of findings to the issue - How does this research advance the current state of knowledge in the accountancy, substantively or methodologically?
	Conceptual or figural model outlining the framework or design of the study
	Statistical model or formulas, appropriately defined, that are connected to the conceptual model
	Variables list (one page, categorized) to include the data set variables to be used
	Proposed budget
	Brief list of current other support (grants, awards, etc. if applicable)
	Attestation of Support from the relevant AFA member body

Reporting requirements

All Research Grantees will be required to submit a brief (3-6 pages) progress report mid-way through the grant period. A final report will be submitted at the end of the grant period. The final report should be an article based on the proposed research and of the quality and in the format for submission to a journal for publication and presentation at the biennial AFA Conference.

Funding disbursement

Funding will be linked to the approval of the progress report and final report. Grantees will receive sixty percent (60%) of the total award at the beginning of the grant period, twenty percent (20%) upon acceptance of the progress report, and twenty percent (20%) upon acceptance of the final report. In most cases awardees may choose whether to have funds sent directly to them or have the funds channeled through their home institutions.

Application Submission

All Proposals must be submitted through the respective AFA member body of the Applicant’s jurisdiction or to each relevant AFA member bodies, should the Proposal involve joint applicants from two or more ASEAN Member States. Proposals shall only be considered for review by the AFA Council once it has been fully endorsed the originating AFA member body (ies).