Solbjerg Plads 3
DK-2000 Frederiksberg
Head of Department: Carsten Krogholt Hansen
Telefon: +45 3815 2320
Fax: +45 3815 2321
E-mail: dbm.acc@cbs.dk

Management accounting
Management accounting is concerned with problem areas related to the development and application of registration and management systems in a variety of business types, including measuring and noise problems in registering and using financial as well as non-financial ratios and key indicators. The department's research into management accounting focuses on three core areas:

(1) Management accounting and business types
In this area the department has two projects targeted at registration and management problems and possibilities in the financial management of firms that use JIT and Lean Production principles as well as service companies. One project has just been completed; the other is expected to be finalised in mid-2002.

(2) Innovative management accounting ideas and methods
The coupling of conventional strategic planning and management accounting is historically a relatively uncultivated field at the department. An ongoing PhD project aimed to investigate this field will be completed by the end of 2002.

(3) IT-based management information systems
A project mapping out methods and opportunities in using IT-based management information systems with particular focus on service companies has been running through 2001 and is expected to be completed in 2002.

Staffing: 2.194 full-time research equivalents

Financial accounting
In the field of financial accounting, the department conducts research into theories, models and methods of corporate financial reporting, analysis of financial information by financial markets and users of financial statements, national and international accounting regulation and accounting conventions. The department's financial accounting research focuses on four core areas:

(1) A significant part of the activities in accounting research is targeted at continued theoretical development of new models, concepts, reporting formats, etc. in the sphere of financial reporting. One of the primary results is the department's contribution to the new Financial Statements Act adopted in 2001. The department, being the only representative from the university world, has played a central role in the preparations for the new statute and thus gained significant influence on Danish accounting conventions in the years ahead. The department has already published its input, concentrated in particular on the theoretical parts of the act.

(2) The department's research into the use of financial statements is centred primarily on the opportunities provided by Account Data, its accounting database, for conducting stock market based accounting research (MBAR). Empirical studies of the influence of accounting profit concepts and data published in offering memoranda on pricing in the Danish stock market and also the motives driving corporate executives' choice of accounting methods measured by means of market response are examples of the department's research in this field. Two projects are of particular interest. One project, dealing with the informative value of Danish offering memoranda, including management's voluntary announcement of earnings forecasts, was completed in 2001. The other, looking into Shareholder Value and Value Reporting, was launched in 1999 and continued in 2001 and 2002 in network cooperation with PWC London. The project involves researchers from both financial and international accounting.

(3) Analytical, descriptive studies of Danish accounting conventions are conducted primarily in the areas of accounting policies of listed companies and Danish and international accounting regulation. The systematic registration of accounting policies by means of Account Data offers a lot of research opportunities in a national context as well as in international network cooperation. The department is involved in almost all significant research-based projects with an analytical, descriptive angle focused on accounting regulation and conventions of EU member states and other countries. For example, the department takes part in the network cooperation "Transnational Accounting", a project with contributors from 19 countries worldwide. Results of this project were published in 2001.

(4) The new Financial Statements Act includes a requirement that new types of statements concerned with knowledge, environment and social responsibility have to be published in annual reports. Thus, they are also integrated in the department's research profile. The department takes part in working groups with the accounting profession on the development of new reporting models and expects to publish a book on these subjects in 2002.

Staffing: 1.80 full-time research equivalents.

Auditing
The department's auditing research comprises a variety of aspects associated with the role of auditing in society, in particular (1) auditor regulation and the auditing profession and (2) the auditor's role in connection with corporate governance. The research methods applied are primarily qualitative.

Activities in (1) auditor regulation and the auditing profession:

a) The project on the 8th Council Directive on harmonisation of the education and qualification of auditors: An analysis of the development of the directive and its implementation in Denmark (1972 - 2001). The results have been presented at two international conferences. The papers are being edited and will then be resubmitted to the European Accounting Review. This project is also related to b) below.

b) Studies of the globalisation process in auditor regulation: (i) A PhD project to carry out an analysis of the globalisation of auditors' education and training through activities launched by institutions such as the International Federation of Accountants, the EU, the UN, the WTO, etc. (ii) A project on the role of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) as an international regulatory body. In December 2001 this project, as part of the project "Media and Democracy in the Network Society" (MODINET), received funding from the allocation for Major Cross-Disciplinary Research Teams. (iii) The department cooperates with three researchers from Manchester University on the subject of globalisation of international auditor regulation, and one article is in progress.

c) A project on regulation of auditor independence is in progress in cooperation with a researcher at the University of Southern Denmark. The results have been presented at two international conferences, and the paper is being edited with a view to publication.

Activities in (2) the role of auditors in connection with corporate governance: a) One project, focused on the auditor's role in connection with evaluation of internal control, is in progress.
b) Another project on new opportunities for the auditing profession in connection with corporate governance is in the pipeline

Staffing: 1.02 full-time research equivalents.