The Department of Accounting and Auditing conducts research and provides courses in the disciplines of management accounting, external accounts and auditing. The Department aims to be recognised as a research institution providing research-based study programmes at the highest level, presenting research results and acting as a recognised partner in a national and international context.

Highlights of 2005

· The Department initiated a research partnership with a major Danish enterprise on the design of financial control systems in order to report financial consequences from a shareholder-value point of view. For example, if the logistics function is to be changed from decentralised to centralised inventory management in Europe, the financial control system must report the derived value generation (destruction) caused by such structural change. The project involves several researchers.

· In 2005, the Department attached two PhD students financed by the Danish Ministry of Science and two Danish enterprises (under the industrial PhD programme) and one PhD student financed by the Department. Besides, two PhD theses were defended.

· The Department appointed professor Stan Brignall, University of Aston, adjunct professor.

Academic profile

A number of different theories contribute elements explaining the development in the three Department disciplines, i.e. management accounting, financial accounting and auditing. These theories range from economic theory and derived agent theory and information theory approaches to institutional theory and corporate management theories as well as sociological and political science theories on human and organisational behaviour.

Management accounting

Management accounting deals with issues concerning the development and use of registration and management systems in various types of enterprises, including measuring and noise problems in connection with the registration and use of financial and non-financial key figures. Department research in corporate management accounting concentrates mainly on financial control and business formats, new financial control tools and IT-based management information systems.

Financial accounting

The Department deals with financial accounting theories, models and methods concerning external financial reporting, application of accounting information by users and financial markets, national and international accounting regulation and accounting practices. Research in financial accounting primarily concentrates on theoretic development of new models, concepts, types of reporting etc., stock market-based accounting research and analytical descriptive studies of Danish accounting conventions, mainly in listed companies, and Danish and international accounting regulation. Recent Department research includes the study of the correlation between corporate governance and accounting, e.g. in relation to accounting-based remuneration and new accounting procedures.

Auditing research includes various aspects in connection with the role of auditing in society, especially: (1) auditor regulation, (2) changes in the auditor profession, and (3) the role of auditors in connection with corporate governance, particularly when evaluating internal control.

Research strategy

The overall objective of the Department is to develop and sustain selected profiles to appear as the obvious national centre of research within its three disciplines. This is expressed as follows:

(1) International publication and research collaboration

Through publication in internationally recognised journals, anthologies etc., the Department wishes to appear as a recognised research institution in the areas of management accounting, financial accounting and auditing. Furthermore, the Department wishes to consolidate and develop its competence to a level, which makes it a visible and interesting partner in international contexts.

(2) National publication and presentation

The Department aims to strike a balance between international and national publication by also giving the latter high priority. Thus, the Department wishes to influence the academic debate in Denmark by presenting both international research and its own results in a Danish context through articles, textbooks, committee work etc.

Research results

Figure 1 shows Department publication from 2001-2005. In 2005, the Department had 13 permanent scientific staff. Their research obligation is differentiated as follows: two have a research obligation of 10%, one has 15%, one has 17%, one has 25%, seven have 34%, and finally one member of the scientific staff has a 50% research obligation calculated on the basis of total working hours. The Department's Nordic-language production has been fair and is of great relevance to the Danish business community, public authorities etc. Nevertheless, Nordic-language publication declined at the expense of an increase in foreign-language production. The Department aims to increase foreign-language publication, but this should not necessarily cause Nordic-language publication to decline. Finally, two foreign-language PhD theses were defended in 2005. One by the PhD students was financed by the Danish Social Science Research Council (formerly SSF, now FSE) and the other was financed with 50% from the auditing sector and 50% from the Department.

Research relations to practice

It is a Department tradition and policy to play an important part in Denmark in order to promote the dialogue between theory and practice, thereby influencing Danish financial and management accounting practices, accounting legislation, the release of new accounting and auditing guidelines etc. Therefore, the Department is represented on the Accounts Council under the Danish Commerce and Companies Agency; on the Accounts Panel under the Danish Institute of State Authorised Public Accountants; and on the panel of judges for the annual accounting award (academic representative). As a result of their research projects, almost all members of the academic staff keep close contacts with the Danish business community, and their research results are presented in relevant journals and through lectures and educational activities aimed at practice. Besides, research results are regularly published via interviews in the daily press and radio/TV.