Department of Accounting

Department introduction and strategy

The Department of Accounting was founded in 1932. It is the largest academic accounting institution in Denmark and one of the largest in Europe covering financial accounting, management accounting and control, auditing, and corporate governance.

In 2018, the department was merged with the Center for Corporate Governance and the Centre for Owner-Managed Businesses. With the addition of these two centres, the combined faculty holds a broad and diversified array of competences, talents, and expertise within numerous aspects of accounting, auditing, management control, and corporate governance.
Together we explore these topics from national as well as global perspectives. This is also reflected in our broad range of international staff members, as we increasingly attract skilled faculty from all over the world. We will actively continue to search for academic talents, as it is fundamental for the development of the department.

Recruitment of PhD students is vital for the Danish and International academic community so a lot of focus will be on that also in the future. In addition, we search actively in our programs for talent. We have increased the involvement of student assistants in our research projects and will do it even more in the future as we find it to be a good way to attract students for PhD positions. We attend European Accounting Association (EAA) job market fair every year to search for international talents at the Assistant Professor level.

At CBS and the department, the strategic purposes and ambitions are aligned around a REEAD model that is explained in the following.

Research (R)
Our aim is to increase our impact on the international research community. The department prioritizes relevance and quality in our research, demonstrating a major influence on both society and businesses within our research fields. This impact is achieved directly through research and cooperation with businesses and society and indirectly also through our education portfolio.
In respect for CBS strategy 2020 and the department’s aligned ambitions, we will develop and strengthen our research profile in terms of disciplinary excellence within Auditing, Financial Accounting, Management Accounting and Control and Corporate Governance. In addition, we will continue to contribute to larger interdisciplinary projects where our core disciplines in a relevant manner can contribute to those projects.

Education (E)
Education and teaching including long life learning is also a vital part of CBS strategy 2020 as well as the department strategy. At the department, we educate and train several PhD students as well as numerous bachelor and master students on various programs such as MSc in Business Economics and Auditing (cand.merc.aud.), MSc concentration in Finance and Accounting (cand.merc.fir.), and MSc concentration in Accounting, Strategy, and Control (cand.merc.asc.). We further offer graduate diploma programs in accounting (HD-R) and general business management (HD-B), executive education, as well as MBA and MPG courses.  We work seriously to improve our offerings in relevance, quality, and pedagogy. Furthermore, we stive to improve the students learning and well-being in our courses.  The formal organization of the department into groups has fueled this process. In addition, we have a close collaboration with colleagues from Teaching & Learning to increase pedagogy, quality, and efficiency in our teaching. As resources especially related to courses taught in Danish are scarce, we need to be even sharper on how we balance the use of permanent faculty and teaching assistants and part time lecturers. In general, the plan is getting a better balance between part-time teachers and the permanent staff in the future.

External Funding (E)
An element in safeguarding financial sustainability Department of Accounting and especially Center of Corporate Governance and Centre of Owner Managed Business attraction of external funding is important.  We will concentrate our effort primarily on projects that are larger and to a less extend on smaller projects. We will also focus the projects even more in a direction where they underpin our research and communication with and impact on business and society.

Academic Citizenship (A)
It is important at the department that our colleagues positively and actively participate in the department’s activities, events and academic discussions and demonstrate interest in attracting relevant collaboration partners to the extended network of the department. In addition, we expect our colleagues to be supportive, friendly and be physical present at the department consistent with CBS and the department’s policies.  It is also expected that our colleagues engage in administrative tasks for CBS and/or the department, including assessment work, recruitment of teachers, engaging with external partners, and other activities supporting the department´s strategy and standing.

Dissemination (D)
Communication to and collaboration with business and society is a vital part of CBS 2020 strategy and is a natural part of the departments research, dissemination, and teaching. The department has many different activities in the form of workshops, seminars, and conferences. Furthermore, the department contributes to business and society through participation in public and private committees as well as being active through dissemination via newsletters, podcasts, articles, and conferences for practitioners. We aim to strengthen our focus on the activities that are the most important for the department and that have the biggest impact on business and society.