The 2nd Annual Scandinavian Accounting Research Conference (BI)

The aim of the Second Annual Scandinavian Accounting Research Conference ASARC is to stimulate high-quality accounting research in Scandinavia and Northern Europe. The conference consist to parts: A PhD. seminar and a conference with presentations of papers. The conference had about 40 participants (33 % PhD.-students, 21 % assistant professors, 21 % associate professors og 26 % full professor) of which from universities and business schools, mainly from Scandinavia and Northern Europe.

Tilbakemeldingen fra doktorgradsstudentene og deltakerne på konferansen er meget positive. All doktorgradsstudentene fikk presentere sine prosjekter, og de fikk tilbakemelding på disse fra internasjonalt meget dyktige forskere. Det var også gode papere som ble presentert med dyktige discussants, og gode plenumsdiskusjoner. Keynote speaker (Linda Myers, nr. 5 i verdensrankingen over forskere innen regnskap og revisjon) ga mange gode råd og tips om karriereplanlegging, publisering, forvaltning av porteføljen av papers, medforfatterskap m.v. Konferansen var en stor suksess.

Compared with research in other business disciplines as for instance finance, strategy, and marketing, in Norway research in accounting is lagging far behind. The situation is fairly similar across the Nordic countries, with a major shortage of qualified people able to publish in high-quality international journals. The aim of the conference is to stimulate high-quality accounting research in Northern Europe with a particular focus on PhD students and young faculty members affiliated with Scandinavian universities and business schools. To help achieve this goal, ASARC intends to include both a select group of outstanding international accounting researchers with PhD students and faculty who recently have started their academic careers. By giving young faculty and PhD students an opportunity to present or discuss papers and discuss their research with top international researchers, we believe that both the quantity and quality of qualified accounting scholars will increase over time. The conference will, in addition to presentations and discussions of research, give ample opportunities for networking, informal meetings, and discussions as the one of the keys to succeed in academia is is collaboration across institutions and borders. The focus of this conference is producing new knowledge of the functioning of the capital markets, including the role of regulation and (accounting and auditing) standard setting, and will increase our understanding of the incentives of various actors in the market (importantly firm managers and external auditors but also financial analysts and large shareholders) as well as exploring the informational needs of a variety of stakeholders (not limited to equity and debt investors). Topics discussed may also include exploring ethical considerations related to capital markets, such as but not limited to company managers? earnings-management incentives.