Experimental Research in Financial Reporting examines the use of virtual worlds as next-generationlabouratories that can help experimental researchers implement features of complex institutions that are not feasible in traditionallabouratory settings.

This new technology, originally developed for online computer games, lends itself very well to complex economic settings with large numbers of agents interacting through complex institutions for long periods of time. These virtual worlds provide the opportunity to construct settings whose complexity approaches those that accounting researchers wish to study. Since the settings are virtual, researchers can use experimental methods to control and manipulate institutional features (like accounting regulations) and environmental features (such as industry forces) to allow clear causal inferences with limited reliance on econometrics.