Jairaj Gupta
Associate Professor in Accounting and Finance

Profile

Biography

There is a question that has quietly shaped my scholarly journey: how to narrow the gap between what is individually rational and socially optimal? I brought that question with me to the University of York in October 2021, when I joined as an Associate Professor in Accounting and Finance. Its roots, however, lie much further back, in the Hindu concept of Dharma. At its core, Dharma is a call toward what is collectively right, a recognition that individual actions carry social consequences. In an era where sustainability defines many of our most pressing challenges, it offers a framework for asking not just what firms can do, but what they ought to do.

This question sits at the centre of my research. Despite decades of sustainability efforts, the gap between socially optimal behaviour and individually rational conduct continues to widen. Firms report strategically, markets respond imperfectly, and within that space between disclosure and reality, consequential decisions are made about financial policies, product strategies, and the future of organisations. My work examines how opportunistic financial reporting shapes capital market outcomes, particularly in sustainability accounting and ESG, accounting quality, and corporate bankruptcy. My research has been presented at leading international conferences, including the American Economic Association, European Accounting Association, and American Accounting Association, and published in internationally reputed peer-reviewed journals. But the ambition has never been purely academic; research that does not ultimately speak to real-world problems is, to me, somewhat incomplete.

That same philosophy shapes my teaching. My lectures are deliberately demanding, reflecting the complexity of the problems students will encounter in practice. Whether analysing financial statements, valuing businesses, accounting for sustainability, or working with financial databases and related technologies, the emphasis is on developing rigorous, applied judgement grounded in real-world contexts.

It is the same spirit that led me to found the Academy of Business Finance and Accounting – a growing, globally inclusive community of scholars committed to research that addresses pressing real-world challenges and contributes to meaningful societal change. Building it has been one of the most rewarding chapters of my career.

If you are considering a PhD, exploring a research collaboration, or wondering whether academic insight might have something to offer your organisation, I would be glad to hear from you. The question that started all of this, how to narrow the gap between what is individually rational and socially optimal, is one I believe is worth pursuing together.

Research

Overview

My research interests include Sustainability Accounting and ESG, Capital Markets Accounting, Financial Accounting, Accounting Quality, Corporate Governance, and Corporate Bankruptcy.

Publications

Selected publications

Please visit my Google Scholar and SSRN pages.

Teaching

Undergraduate

My teaching interests include Financial Statement Analysis, Business Analysis and Valuation, Managerial Accounting, Financial Accounting, Management Accounting, Corporate Finance, Project Analysis, Sustainability Accounting in Capital Markets, and Bloomberg/Refinitiv Lab Modules.