BAFA Scotland Conference

It is our great pleasure to thank all the presenters and attendees at the British Accounting and Finance Association (BAFA) Scotland Regional Group Annual Conference at the University of Dundee on the 17th of June 2024. We would also like to thank the ACCA for sponsoring the prizes. We would also like to thank Dundee City Council for their support. A special thank-you goes to Professor Morris Altman for his early encouragement for us to take responsibility for organizing the conference. We are also grateful to our volunteer PhD students Ramy Sherief and Yuheng Lin. Special thanks to Linn McFarlane for the all the help. I would also like to thank Dr Yang Wang for co-convening the event with me. 

The conference was well attended, with nearly 60 staff and PhD students from universities across Scotland. This year, there were 17 presentations by accounting and finance academic staff from various universities in Scotland: 2 presentations from the University of Aberdeen, 7 from the University of Dundee, 2 from the University of Edinburgh, 2 from the University of Glasgow, 2 from Robert Gordon University, 1 from the University of Stirling, and 1 from Edinburgh Napier University.

The event began with a short welcome session presented by the BAFA Scotland Conference Chair, Professor Yvonne Joyce, and Professor Morris Altman, Dean of the School of Business. The first session of the day was given by the Head of the Accounting and Finance Panel Session Members, including Professor Seth Armitage (University of Edinburgh), Dr. Ayo Asekomeh (Robert Gordon University), Dr. Bill Jackson (University of Aberdeen), and Dr. Alison Fordyce (University of Dundee). The panel discussed important issues, including the challenges and opportunities faced by Accounting and Finance departments across different Scottish universities. This session was followed by a keynote speech delivered by Professor Ian Thomson, who presented on the topic “Combatting Global Malnutrition: The Role of Transformative Accounting and Finance.” The conference sponsor, ACCA, also presented a topic on global talent trends survey.

In the afternoon parallel sessions, 17 presentations were delivered by the conference participants. One of the highlights of the conference was the award of Best Full Paper Prize and Best Discussant, which recognizes the highest-quality research and originality presented at the conference, as well as excellent discussions of others' work and the provision of constructive feedback. Dr. Dionysia Dionysiou from the University of Stirling and Professor Chandana Alawattage from the University of Glasgow were presented with the best paper and best discussant awards, and Dr. Shuo Wang from the University of Edinburgh were awarded best discussant awards.