The Accounting Department is committed to the pursuit of excellence in its research activities. Our academics have a track record of publishing research in leading international and Australian journals.

In the 2015 and 2018 Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) rankings, the Department was ranked as producing research at ‘above world standard’. 

The research undertaken by the Accounting Department is relevant to both the professional and academic communities. 

The relevance of our research is evidenced by the significant funding awarded to Department researchers from the Australian Research Council (ARC), Centre for International Finance and Regulation (CIFR), Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand (AFAANZ) and the Cotton Research and Development Corporation.    

Research strengths

Our current research strengths include:

  • Corporate governance – board independence and expertise, executive and non-executive director compensation, mergers and acquisitions
  • Financial reporting – non-GAAP reporting, impact of IFRS adoption, intangible assets, corporate disclosure, capital market-based accounting studies, firm valuation, accounting policy choice, earnings quality and tax aggressiveness
  • Auditing – auditor independence, audit pricing
  • Management accounting – management control system design, performance evaluation, budgeting and forecasting
  • Accounting information systems, IT governance, E-business and ERP systems

Research events

As part of our strategy of being one of the premier research schools in accounting the Accounting Department conducts a number of ongoing research events.  These events include our annual Summer Accounting Consortium and Annual Conference. 

The Summer Accounting Consortium comprises a two-day workshop on selected topics by a leading international researcher. The consortium also includes a number of sessions that allow early-career researchers to present their work. 

The two-day Summer Annual Conference consists of a keynote address by a high-profile international researcher and a series of research paper presentations with discussants.  The Summer Annual Conference has a track record of attracting high-profile presenters and researchers from both Australia and overseas.

The Accounting Department also holds research seminars throughout Autumn and Spring semesters.  Seminars are typically held on Monday from noon to 1:00 pm and bring to UTS leading researchers interested in receiving feedback on their research work in progress.