AFAS for the public good

We actively engage in discussions, inside and outside academia, on how to tackle grand challenges such as poverty and inequality and we aim to inform policies and regulations that relate to these challenges.

While grounded in strong discipline-specific knowledge and expertise, we are committed to engaging in interdisciplinary research that addresses pressing societal issues. 

Ethnic-based discrimination

We have conducted research on ethnic-based discrimination in different professional contexts, including law and accounting. Recent work in this area has illuminated the factors affecting the overrepresentation of Black, Asian, and minority ethnic solicitors in the complaints received and in the complaints taken forward for investigation by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) and provided evidence of client-based ethnic discrimination in the accounting profession. 

Inequality and modern slavery

We have investigated a number of ill-suited practices in accounting and finance, including inequality and modern slavery in public and private organisations. Research in this area contributes to our understanding of modern slavery in organisational contexts, shedding lights on the obstacles that prevent ‘free’ labourers from walking away from exploitative conditions. It has also documented how the design of the administrative model of accrual accounting in emerging countries is deeply affected by coercive pressures from donors and auditors, as well as by normative pressures surfaced by the training of employees. 

Fairness, consumer protection, fraud and justice

We have examined various aspects related to fairness, consumer protection, fraud and justice. Research in this area has examined the challenges faced by a taskforce created to convince companies and financial institutions to manage nature-related risks during the final development and initial implementation of a nature related financial disclosure framework, the impact of state ownership and political connections on fraud and regulatory punishments, the impact of both monetary and non-monetary ‘name and shame’ penalties on the shareholder wealth of fraudulent firms, and the impact of corruption prevention practices on tax avoidance. See also our AFAS and Regulation and Environmental AFAS themes.

Public sector accounting and accountability

We have a long-standing interest in public sector accounting and accountability. Recent work in this area has shown that NGOs can act as ‘informational surrogates’ in the accountability relationship between local governments and the civic public and provided evidence of the potential benefits of applying a ‘levers of control’ framework to theorise the dynamic interplay between risk and control in public service organisations.