Peter Skærbæk

About

View research profile and publications

E-mail

ps.acc@cbs.dk

Telephone

Office: +4538152409

Departments

Department of Accounting

Room: SOL/C4.14

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Subjects

Public management Financial management Budget Accounting Auditing Annual reports

Primary research areas

The role of management accounting calculations in organizational change

Management accounting calculations are frequently produced and used for decision-making purposes. Many public sector reforms and innovations are designed under the influence of such calculations. We examine the implications and consequences of such in organizations, like the military and police.

The role of management consultants’ calculations in organizational change

The role of management consultants in organizational change is significant. In this research, the emphasis is on the production of accounting calculations and how they are subsequently used for decision-making. Research is conducted in various, primarily public organisations.

The roles of accounting and economics in larger infrastructure projects.

Infrastructure projects are frequently exposed to budget overruns. In accounting research, this is an emerging research topic. We investigate the roles of budgeting and calculations in infrastructure projects. We theorize using Actor-Network-Theory to explore whether budget overruns are necessarily counterproductive.

The measurement of productivity at the organizational level

In economics, productivity is claimed to be accurately measured for the private sector, while it is concluded that productivity is only poorly measured for the public sector. Therefore, economics seeks to create calculation practices within public organizations that involve changing accounting systems and practices

Advancing knowledge on accounting and organizational change to strengthen transparency, national security, and sustainable productivity in the (public) sector.

Peter Skærbæk teaches accounting courses at Copenhagen Business School. He received a PhD in accounting from Copenhagen Business School. He taught at Copenhagen Business School and has served as adjunct professor at Trondheim Business School, Newcastle University and currently at Inland University Norway.

He is currently a PhD coordinator at the Department of Accounting and a member of Academic Council.

His research addresses accounting and organizational change empirically with an emphasis on the public sector. His research is published in leading academic journals including Accounting, Organizations and Society, Contemporary Accounting Research, Management Accounting Research, Accounting Auditing and Accountability Journal, European Accounting Review and Financial Accountability and Management. Recently, he has also contributed to a number of edited books.

He has, over the years, been engaged in research-based public debates about the public sector’s annual reports, about the Danish State’s decision to terminate the use of internal auditing and the quality of the accounting calculations used for decision-making purposes in public sector reforms. My vision and goal is to contribute to the improvement and enhancement of the sustainable productivity of the public sector, increase accountability and transparency from the angle of accounting and risk management.

Outside activities

Adjunct professor at Inland University, Norway, 2016–Ongoing

Involved with the supervision of PhD-students, co-authoring of research publications and smaller amounts of teaching.