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Peter Skær­bæk

Professor

Emner
Offentlig forvaltning Økonomistyring Budget Regnskab Revision Årsrapporter

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.

Affiliated to the Stockholm School of Economics, Center for Security and Resilience, 2025–Ongoing