Research Update Centre for Research into Accounting and Finance in Context (CRAFiC)
www.sheffield.ac.uk/crafic
At the centre of debate: CRAFiC’s mission Since the collapse of Enron, public trust in both the accounting and finance professions has been in longterm decline, and the post2008 financial crisis has aggravated the problem. In these professions, debates have been joined about the role of finance in promoting sustainable growth and the role of accounting in mitigating crises through timely and appropriate disclosures. CRAFiC aims to be at the centre of these debates. It seeks to encourage and conduct high quality and cutting edge research into the ways in which accounting and finance are constituted and help to constitute broader social contexts and institutions. It aims to be an integral part of the emerging narrative about how accounting and finance can help build a fair, ethical and sustainable society. Research undertaken by members of the centre not only has implications for stakeholders such as financial institutions, corporations and government but adds evidence and analytical rigour to the voice of all segments of society who are affected by accounting and financial decisions.
Spend and Save by Professor Josephine Maltby
‘We do not save enough in this country, it is shockingly bad when it comes to how much we save’ (Ian Duncan Smith, 2010). ‘Undersaving’ and reliance on expensive short-term debt are matters of concern in the 21st century. Calls now for better financial behaviour echo those of the 19th century, when anxiety about workingclass poverty (and the social unrest it would provoke) led in Great Britain to the formation of savings banks in villages, towns and cities. They were explicitly aimed at the working class man, to encourage him to save for the long term (no loans, no business customers). Savings banks, it was claimed, would cure improvident habits and give working men a stake in society. It was proposed mid-century that men with £50 in a savings bank should be given the vote. The savings banks grew and survived, merging into TSB. The records they kept are in the Lloyds/TSB archive, listing savers’ names, gender, age and occupation plus the accounts they kept. We have been investigating these, looking so far at about 4,500 individuals in banks in London, Sheffield, Bury, Newcastle and North Shields between 1850-1865.
The data offers insight into working class saving and spending. We are finding different patterns: the majority of accounts were short-term or run like modern current accounts, not the long-term saving the founders had envisaged. Despite the alleged ‘separate spheres’ ideology of the 19th century that kept women away from financial resources, we find a lot of women operated accounts in their own names (48 per cent of savers in Sheffield, similar figures in London). A lot of child and teenage workers were saving. There are regional differences in the way people saved – because of local customs or local bank managers? We want to extend the study nationwide (L. Perriton at the University of York, J Rutterford at the Open University and I are through to the second stage of a Leverhulme bid) – to use it to understand individual and family financial behaviour. The bank data is unique in its scope and the level of detail it provides: it has implications for historians and also for 21st century arguments about spending and saving.
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Supply chain accounting by Professor John Cullen and Dr Juliana Meira
Professor Cullen, alongside CRAFiC colleague DR JULIANA MEIRA (front row, left), is a member of the interdisciplinary and multinational team led by PROFESSOR PAULINE DIBBEN (front row, middle) working on a three-year ESRC project investigating accounting and employment practices in the automotive and textiles industries in South Africa and Brazil. From a supply chain accounting perspective, this is an exciting project because it moves the debate around supply chain accounting away from just focusing on competitive advantage arising out of the sharing of accounting and process information to one which engages the sharing of information into the domain of social and environmental accounting.
PROFESSOR JOHN CULLEN (back row, middle) continues to develop his interdisciplinary work on supply chain accounting alongside colleagues from the Management School, as well as colleagues from other academic institutions. This contribution to supply chain accounting literature and practice has been enhanced through the studies of past and present PhD students who have undertaken empirical work in many different countries across the world. For example, work carried out which focuses on supply chain accounting in Brazil, South Africa, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Greece and the UK.
Professor Cullen is also continuing his multidisciplinary work on reverse logistics with colleagues Mike Bernon (Cranfield University) and Dr Jonathan Gorst (Sheffield Hallam University). The current focus is on the rise of omni-channel retailing and the impact that different channels have on returns levels. From a supply chain accounting perspective, this is important work since companies need to understand the complex nature of such channels and the impact on customer service and profit margins across the supply chain.
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The CRAFiC seminar series
Research news in brief In the past year, CRAFiC researchers have published in journals such as Cambridge Journal of Economics, Critical Perspective on Accounting, European Journal of Finance, European Physical Journal B, Manchester School, Journal of Futures Markets, Journal of International Money and Finance and Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting.
In collaboration with Sheffield University Management School, CRAFiC organises a successful and well-attended seminar series in which both CRAFiC-affiliated academic staff and external speakers present their research. External speakers for the 2014-15 academic year include Professor Kate Phylaktis of Cass Business School, Professor Jim Haslam of Newcastle University, Dr Joe Deville of Goldsmiths College, Professor Brian Lucey of Trinity College Dublin (29 April), Professor Marc Goergen of Cardiff Business School (6 May) and Professor Lynne Oats of University of Exeter (27 May). CRAFiC seminars generally take place on the last Wednesday of every month. You can view and book your place on these events online: management.sheffield.ac.uk/events
CRAFiC researchers are involved with funded research in major emerging market economies such as Brazil and India, and also in developed economies such as Japan and the UK. Their overseas collaborators include researchers from the Federal Reserve Bank at St Louis, University of California at Berkeley, Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, University of Pretoria and Federal University of Pernambuco, Brazil. Domestically, CRAFiC members are involved with research projects for the Northern Ireland Housing Executive and in cooperation with Business in the Community (BITC). In addition, they have recently delivered invited addresses for the Royal Statistical Society and the Northern Ireland Public Services Alliance (NIPSA), and provided input into research for the British Business Bank.
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Forthcoming events On Wednesday 3 June, CRAFiC will be remembering the contribution of PROFESSOR ANTHONY LOWE (pictured right), the first Professor of Accounting and Financial Management at the University of Sheffield. Tony Lowe, who died in March 2014, was also the father figure of ‘The Sheffield School’ of interdisciplinary and critical accounting research. The day will include a panel discussion on ‘The relevance of The Sheffield School for accounting and finance research in 21st century’ with contributors including Professor Richard Laughlin. In addition, there will be a workshop led by Professor Lisa Jack, jointly organised by the Interdisciplinary Perspectives SIG of BAFA and CRAFiC, for doctoral students and early career researchers on ‘The use of social theory in framing accounting research’. The day will be rounded off with the naming of a permanent memorial to Professor Lowe in the Management School and a social event. For more information on this event please contact DR STEWART SMYTH (s.j.smyth@sheffield.ac.uk). Visit management.sheffield.ac.uk/anthony-lowe to find out more and register for the event. Limited places available.
Financial development and corporate governance workshop:
Call for participants
During the first week of June, CRAFiC will also organise a workshop on financial development and corporate governance in emerging market economies. The basis for this workshop would be UKIERI-funded research on these issues in the Indian context which has been jointly undertaken by researchers affiliated to CRAFiC, the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, the Madras School of Economics and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. People interested in participating at the workshop should write to PROFESSOR SUMON BHAUMIK (s.k.bhaumik@sheffield.ac.uk).
Professor Sumon Bhaumik (second from right) and PhD student Jiao Ji (first from left) at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville on a UKIERI-funded research trip in August 2014
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