Business School

Current Research Projects

Details of some current research projects being undertaken by staff within the Business School are provided below:


The Future of the Acounting Academic Discipline in the UK

Principal Investigator’s Name: Professor Vivien Beattie

Funder: Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland

Amount Awarded: £4954

Duration: 01/07/2010 - 31/03/2012

Project details:

To flourish, the global accountancy profession needs accounting to thrive as an academic discipline.  In the US, the professional bodies and the major accounting firms have recognised that a severe problem exists in the accounting supply chain, with a growing number of retirements and inadequate renewal in terms of new faculty (generally PhD graduates entering academe).  While the UK context differs from the US in key respects, concerns regarding the aging faculty base and the quality of PhDs are emerging.  However, there is a paucity of systematic empirical evidence on these issues.  This study will:

1. Document the current state of the market for PhD studies in the UK in the accounting and finance disciplines, in terms of supply, demand, topic speciality, student demographics, and employment destinations.

2. Investigate the PhD supervisory structures and processes from the perspective of supervisees, supervisors and recent PhD students. Issues addressed will include experiences, behaviours, attitudes, perceptions regarding quality, etc.

3. Elicit the views of organisations with a vested interest in the academic accounting profession (i.e., professional accounting bodies, accounting regulators) regarding PhD and faculty issues.

4. Explore the implications for accounting education and training in the UK and for the academic accounting profession and for the public accounting profession.


Optimal Taxation in Heterogeneous agent dynamic general equilibrium models

Principle Investigator's name: Professor Jim Malley

Funder: Economics and Social Research Council (ESRC)

Amount: £118,464.18

Duration: 01 April 2010 - 31 March 2012

Project details:

This research aims to shed light into the future tax and public spending implications of the current economic crisis.

Public debt as share of output is expected to increase by around 20 percentage points within two years of the start of the crisis in summer 2008. Thus, a combination of higher future taxes and cuts in government expenditure will be required to service this debt.  Given that distortionary taxation has effects on the efficiency of resource use, the distribution of income and in turn on growth and welfare, it is critical that future tax and spending policies be designed with these considerations in mind.

Focusing on the UK and US economies, this project further intends to deliver a set of policy recommendations relating to:

1. The optimal tax-mix when there is pressure to stabilise the public debt;

2. The optimal capital-to-labour income tax ratio in the presence of the politically expedient trend to rely on higher consumption taxes to raise revenue;

3. The optimal tax-spending mix when public expenditure also has effects on the distribution of income

4. The effects of permanent and temporary technology changes on the optimal capital-to-labour income tax ratio.


Innovation for Competitive Enterprises (ICE)

Principal Investigator's Name: Professor Richard Harris

Funder: European Commission (INTERREG)

Amount Awarded: Euro 521,227 (plus Euro 141,600 from Scottish Enterprise)

Duration: 43 months (1 April 2009 to 31 October 2012)

Project Details:

Innovation for Competitive Enterprises (ICE) – The ICE project brings together Dundalk Institute of Technology (lead partner), University of Ulster, Glasgow Caledonian University and the University of Glasgow in a tri-regional Innovation Network aimed at building the innovation capacity and capability of existing Small to Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Northern Ireland, the Border Region and Western Scotland.

The overall aim of the project is the formulation, formation and implementation of an Innovation Initiative that supports SMEs and Industry in the development of their innovative capacity and capability, aimed ultimately at improving their competitiveness through the commercialisation of new ideas, products and processes on a cross border and cross regional basis through the Tri-Regional Innovation network. The objective of the project is to engage strategically with regionally based SMEs with a view to increasing their profitability and competitiveness through innovation.