ACCOUNTING AND FINANCE DIVISION

Leeds University Business School

NEWSLETTER

March 2015 IN THIS ISSUE:

Page 2 Dates For Your Diaries

Accounting and Finance gets

top marks for teaching

Great place to live, great place

to learn

Page 3 Seminar Guest: Dr Dimitrios Gounpoulos

Page 4 UG Prize Giving

Page 5 Scholarship Holders’ Dinner

Page 6 December Graduates

Dr Tim King’s Graduation

Page 7 REF 2014

Page 8 Innovation and Communication

in A&F Student Education

International Teachers Programme (ITP)

Page 9 LUBS Alumni Trip to China

Page 10 Student Feedback:

Student Consultation Day 2015

Page 11 Student Feedback:

NSS 2015

UG Programme Survey 2015

ICAEW Foundation Bursary

Page 12 Staff Spotlights:

Dr Andreea Bordianu

Dr Abhishek Srivastav

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Page 2 Leeds University Business School

DATES FOR YOUR DIARIES

Semester 2 Teaching Breaks:

Semester 2 Exam Timetable Online:

University Closed for Easter:

Semester 2 Teaching Restarts:

May Bank Holiday:

Semester 2 Teaching Ends:

Semester 2 Exams:

Spring Bank Holiday:

Friday 20th March 2015

Friday 27th March 2015

Noon Thursday 2nd—Tuesday 7th April 2015

Monday 20th April 2015

Monday 4th May 2015

Friday 8th May 2015

Monday 18th May—Friday 5th June 2015

Monday 25th and Tuesday 26th May 2015

Accounting and Finance Gets Top Marks For Teaching!

Two modules taught by the Accounting and Finance Division were awarded the Dean’s Award for

Teaching Excellence in November 2014, out of a total of 5 awards made across the Business School as

a whole. This award is given based on students’ overall satisfaction and the feedback given on teach-

ing in their module evaluation questionnaires, so it is particularly rewarding to be recognised for our

teaching by our students. Jessica Johnson, A&F Postgraduate Tutor, is the module leader, and Dr Alan

Duboisée de Ricquebourg, Teaching Fellow in A&F, is the seminar leader for ‘Intermediate Manage-

ment Accounting’, which won in the large module category. Alice Shepherd, Senior Teaching Fellow in

Accounting and Finance, is the module leader and Amy May, a PhD student in A&F is the tutor for

‘Introductory Accounting and Finance’, which won in the small module category.

From left to right: Dr Alan Duboisée de Ricquebourg, Jessica Johnson, Alice Shepherd and Amy May

Great place to live, great place to learn!

5. Interesting, innovative and flexible programme designed to prepare you for a

range of careers in accounting and finance.

1. Consistently ranked as one of the top ten A&F programmes in the

UK.

4. Independent, high quality research-led teaching with

strong emphasis on developing key professional skills.

3. Leeds University Business School is ranked ninth in the UK

and first in the North of England for the quality of our re-

search (REF, 2014).

2. 95% overall student satisfaction score—third for A&F in the

Russell Group (NSS, 2014).

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Page 3 Leeds University Business School

Seminar Guest: Dr Dimitrios Gounopoulos, MBA Alumnus Class of 2000

The Accounting and Finance Division had the opportunity to

welcome on the 10th of July, Dr Dimitrios Gounopoulos, a

LUBS MBA Alumnus (class 2000), who delivered a re-

search seminar in an enthusiastic audience of colleagues

with the title “Does it pay to invest in Higher Education: Evi-

dence from US IPOs”.

Dimitrios is currently a Reader in the School of Business,

Management and Economics at the University of Sussex.

His former positions were at the University of Surrey (Surrey

Business School) and the University of Manchester

(Manchester Business School). He obtained his PhD from

Manchester Business School, his MBA from LUBS and his

MSc degree from the School of Electrical and Electronic

Engineering from the University of Leeds. Dimitrios has

highlighted in many occasions the LUBS’ contribution in his life, particularly because it was during his

time at LUBS that he took the decision to change his career pathway and move from Electrical Engi-

neering to Business and more specifically to Accounting and Finance.

Dimitrios main Research Interest lies in the areas of International Accounting and Corporate Finance.

He specialises on Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) and he is known for his continuous research involve-

ment on this field. His research also addresses issues in Bonds Structure, Corporate Governance, Ex-

ecutive Compensation as well as Earnings Management. Recently, he was honoured with a Gong Cer-

emony by the Oldest Stock Exchange in the world, the NYSE – Euronext Amsterdam, for his services

on Initial Public Offerings.

Dimitrios has published in well ranked Finance Journals including the Journal of Financial Research,

Journal of Banking and Finance, European Financial Management etc. He has received a generous

Research Grant on Energy Economics by the Dutch Government, while in collaboration with 'Surrey

Space Center', managed to secure a big grant on the 'Procurement and Development of an Active De-

bris Removal Mission'.

No matter where life takes him, Dimitrios will always be a proud LUBS Alumnus.

Dr Dimitrios Gounopoulos

Reader in Accounting and Finance (Business and Management)

University of Sussex

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Page 4 Leeds University Business School

Undergraduate Prize Giving Event—October 2014

The students of the Accounting and Finance Division continue to prove just how

talented they are with 22 of the 33 prizes being awarded at the 2014 Undergraduate

Prize Giving Ceremony, on 22nd October, going to Accounting and Finance students.

Congratulations!

Alaa Qarooni being presented with one of the

Dean’s Prizes.

Mohamad Saiful Mohamed Isa being pre-

sented with one of the Ernst & Young Prizes

for LUBS1915 Introduction to Financial

Accounting.

Arif Ehsan being presented with one of the

Dean’s Prizes.

Fahad Chaudry being presented with one of the

Dean’s Prizes.

Faith Elenga being presented with

one of the Dean’s Prizes.

Harmeet Singh Abtar being presented with one of

the Dean’s Prizes.

Oliver Blackmore being presented

with one of the Dean’s Prizes.

Fiona Lewis being presented with one of the Ernst &

Young Prizes for LUBS1915 Introduction to

Financial Accounting.

Alice Winkley being presented with one of the

two Denise Gallagher Awards.

Mohanapiriya Allymuthoo being presented with

one of the two Denise Gallagher Awards.

Pieria Protopapa being presented

with one of the Ernst & Young

Prizes for LUBS1915 Introduction

to Financial Accounting.

Qiongfang Zhang being present-

ed with one of the Dean’s Prizes.

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Page 5 Leeds University Business School

Scholarship Holders’ Dinner—October 2014

On Monday 27th October the Division were joined by 37 of our students from across first, second, third

and fourth year, to celebrate their great achievement - all 37 were awarded scholarships for the aca-

demic year 2014/15.

Amongst the 37 attendees there were Head Start Scholarship winners, Top Ten Scholarship winners

and Business School Scholarship winners. The event was an opportunity to congratulate these top per-

formers whilst at the same time giving them a chance to meet other like minded students from other

year groups.

The event started at 6pm with a drinks reception followed by a three course silver service dinner at

7pm.

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Page 6 Leeds University Business School

Congratulations are also in order for Dr Tim King! After several years of hard work, our Research Of-

ficer Tim has graduated from Bangor University with a PhD in Banking. Tim said “the day was fantastic,

complete with beautiful weather and a lovely reception in the business school's Management Centre.”

Dr Tim King

Research Officer

On a bright and sunny Decem-

ber day, three of our PhD stu-

dents graduated with flying

colours. Karin Shields, An-

dreea Bordianu and Tongya

Wang all received their well-

deserved doctoral certificates

from the Dean of the Business

School, Prof Peter Moizer, and

then celebrated in cap and

gown style with family and

friends afterwards. There was

even a certain rock star

around to congratulate one of

the graduates—Robert Plant,

Lead Vocalist of Led Zeppelin!

And the good news doesn’t stop there, Dr Karin Shields is now a lecturer at Birkbeck University and

Dr Andreea Bordianu is a teaching fellow in the Accounting and Finance Division here at LUBS—see

page 12 for her Staff Spotlight!

Dr Tim King’s Graduation—Summer 2014

December Graduates—CASIF gets three cheers!

Dr Karin Shields, Dr Tongya Wang and Dr Andreea Bordianu

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Page 7 Leeds University Business School

REF 2014

The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is the new sys-

tem for assessing the quality of research in UK higher educa-

tion institutions, which replaces the Research Assessment

Exercise (RAE), which was last carried out in 2008.

The Business School has been ranked 9th in the UK for research output; up from a joint

11th position (with Manchester, Nottingham and Strathclyde) in 2008. The University

itself is now ranked 10th for research power and 9th when it comes to the impact power

of its research.

The REF assessed research published over the period from 1 January 2008 to 31 July 2013 (or De-

cember 31st 2013 in the case of outputs) from 154 UK universities. The results of the 2014 REF were

published on 18th December 2014.

The main aims of the framework are:

1. To produce robust UK-wide indicators of research excellence for all disciplines which can be used

to benchmark quality against international standards and to drive the Council's funding for research.

2. To provide a basis for distributing funding primarily by reference to research excellence.

3. To fund excellent research in all its forms wherever it is found to avoid creating any undesirable be-

havioural incentives to promote equality and diversity.

The research of the Business School (Business and Management Studies within the

REF) was assessed and the overall quality of submissions was judged, on average to

be:

38% world-leading (compared to the UK average of 30%)

44% internationally excellent

16% recognised internationally

2% recognised nationally

The Impact Case Study for the Division—Lending research knowledge to improve credit management

practice—was provided by Professor Nick Wilson, Professor of Credit Management. The full case study

can be accessed online here: http://business.leeds.ac.uk/research-and-innovation/impact-and-

innovation/improving-credit-management-practice-influencing-policy-and-enabling-knowledge-transfer.

As is evident, the Division returned excellent research outputs, produced a first rate impact case study

and we have a very healthy research environment. This research environment is continuing to produce

top notch research outputs and on current trends we will produce an even better REF result in 2020.

Further REF details can be found at the following:

www.ref.ac.uk

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Page 8 Leeds University Business School

Innovation and communication in A&F student education

Three members of staff within the division have recently been awarded Business School Student Edu-

cation Project Funding, in a competitive bidding process across the school. The funding is given to al-

low staff to conduct pilot/research projects investigating innovative teaching and student support prac-

tices, and is worth up to £3,000 per project. The projects are to be completed within the next 2 years.

The staff and their projects are:

Eleni Karali

Divisional Assistant, PG

Project:

Accounting and Finance

postgraduate eclub.

Joanna Ying Ye

Senior Teaching Fellow

Project:

How assessment methods

affect the student experience.

Alice Shepherd

Senior Teaching Fellow

Project:

Hype or help: incoming students and technologies for study.

Joanna Ying Ye, our Head of First Year and Senior Teaching Fellow, attended the International Teach-

ers Programme (ITP) in Shanghai on 11th-17th January organised by the International Schools of Busi-

ness Management (ISBM).

ITP is an intensive faculty development programme dedicated to helping business educators develop

suitable skills and capabilities to be successful in their careers. The organiser, ISBM (International

Schools of Business Management), is a

group of thirteen leading business schools,

including HEC Paris, London Business

School, SDA Bocconi Milan, Stern School

of Business (New York University), and

Stockholm School of Economics.

During the programme, Joanna and the

other 28 participants from top business

schools around the world have been able

to refresh and develop their skills to in-

crease effectiveness in their teaching. Out-

side the classroom, they also had the op-

portunities to explore the largest and most

prosperous city of China.

International Teachers Programme—January 2015

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Page 9 Leeds University Business School

Leeds University Business School Alumni Trip to China

In January 2015 Accounting and Finance Postgradu-

ate Tutor Jessica Johnson, with support from the busi-

ness school alumni team, hosted Master's Alumni

Events in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

Jessica found that our alumni (pictured above and left

with Jessica) had extremely fond memories of their

time in Leeds and studying at the business school.

Many of them had travelled quite a distance in order

to attend the event, and a number of them asked after

specific Accounting and Finance staff members.

Through engaging with our alumni, Jessica added to

her knowledge of the Chinese job market, employer’s

expectations and gathered some ideas on how best

for us, as a Division, to keep in touch – something it

was clear our alumni were keen to do. There was also

interest from our alumni in being more involved with

current business school students and activities.

Overall the trip was a success and the events were extremely well-attended. It is clear that we have

some great alumni in China who are now quite established in their fields.

More information about international alumni groups and events can be found here:

business.leeds.ac.uk/alumni/alumni-groups/

business.leeds.ac.uk/news-events/all-events/news_category/alumni/

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Page 10 Leeds University Business School

UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT FEEDBACK

We have made great progress in the last few years in developing the Accounting and Finance pro-

gramme but, never ones to rest on our laurels, we are always looking for more ways to improve, and

student feedback it vital in this endeavour. As such, on Saturday February 7th 2015 we held our second

Student Consultation Day.

The event comprised of a series of focus groups facilitated by members of the division followed by a 3

course dinner at University House. The focus groups covered class participation, option and discovery

modules, assessment, commercial awareness and feedback.

The day was very relaxed but very productive and a lot of useful feedback was gathered to go towards

refining and improving the programme - a big thank you to all the students who contributed!

Student Consultation Day—February 7th 2015

Qidong Hu, Jessica Johnson, Emma Beckwith and Chara Stefanou discussing assessment within Accounting and Finance

Bruncle Ramalefo, Charlotte Hwei Ern Tay, Wen Yee Khaw and Sok Man Yong

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Page 11 Leeds University Business School

UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT FEEDBACK continued...

ICAEW Foundation Bursary

All final year undergraduate students are eligible

to take part in the National Student Survey (NSS)

which is now live and will remain open until the

end of April.

The NSS is an annual student experience survey

of undergraduates and has been conducted

since 2005. Over a hundred universities across

the UK take part in the survey, with their students

providing feedback on teaching, assessment,

academic support and much more. This feed-

back is then used externally to help inform the

choices of future applicants to higher education

(see the Unistats website at http://

www.unistats.com).

Click here to take part in the survey and receive

100 printer credits; it only takes 5 minutes to

complete.

The Undergraduate Programme Survey 2015 is

now openThis is the survey for all undergradu-

ate students who were not eligible to take part in

the National Student Survey (which focuses on

final year students).

The survey is online at

www.haveyoursay.leeds.ac.uk. Feedback is

very important to us in further developing our

programmes and the way we teach so please

log in and complete, it should only take a few

minutes.

Each student will be awarded 100 free printer

credits or a £1 charity donation for completion

of the survey.

Results will be available in early September,

together with the NSS results.

NSS 2015 Now Live UG Programme Survey 2015

The Division has a brand new ICAEW Foundation Bursary for

2015 worth £12,000 over three years for a Leeds University

Business School Accounting and Finance student.

ICAEW Foundation is the charity of ICAEW, a world leader in the

accountancy and finance profession. Set up in 2007, the charity

has a number of objectives, in particular the support through its bursary programme of talented disad-

vantaged students who wish to study in the field of finance and accounting. This also sits with ICAEW’s

own wider objectives of broadening access to the profession. The bursary is available to a student who

demonstrates an interest in and an aptitude for accountancy.

The first bursary, supported by PwC, received by the Division

was awarded in 2012 to Ali Afzal, who is currently completing

a work placement year at Ernst & Young. Ali (seen right re-

ceiving the bursary) is expected to graduate in July 2016 with

a BSc Accounting and Finance (Ind).

More information about ICAEW and its bursaries can be

found here:

www.icaew.com/en/about-icaew/what-we-do/volunteering-

and-awards/icaew-foundation

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Page 12 Leeds University Business School

STAFF SPOTLIGHTS

Dr Andreea Bordianu - Teaching Fellow in Accounting and Finance

Dr Andreea Bordianu is a Teaching Fellow at Leeds University Business School.

She joined CASIF in 2010 as a doctoral student and she finished her PhD thesis

entitled: "Intellectual capital measurement impact on performance” in 2014.

Andreea holds a BA in Accounting and Management Information Systems from

the Academy of Economic Studies, Romania and finished with distinction an MA in

Accounting and Finance at Leeds University Business School.

Previously, she worked as an accountant specializing in accounting standards,

financial analysis and taxes. Also, she has experience in non-formal education as

she is a qualified trainer and has held numerous workshops and training sessions with various themes.

I Never Knew That!

Favourite...

Book: Life on a Train Platform (Viata pe un peron) by Octavian Paler Song: In My Secret Life by Leonard Cohen

Film: Amelie

Food: Fish and Seafood

Quote: “Be realistic , demand the impossible”

Possession: A nice, fluffy and chubby cat

Hobbies: Cooking for Friends and family, swimming, hiking, decorating and gardening.

As a Child I Wanted To Be: A Judge. I gave up the idea when I realised I am too emphatic, I rely a lot on intuition

and I do not like rules. I still keep the inquiring mind.

Dr Abhishek Srivastav joined the Leeds University Business School as a Teaching

Fellow in Banking & Finance in September 2014. Prior to this, he was a PhD can-

didate at the University of Edinburgh.

His PhD thesis focused on the impact of paying CEOs with 'debt' on bank risk-

taking in the US. One of the papers drawn from his PhD has been published in the

Journal of Banking & Finance, for which he was also awarded the ‘David Hume

PhD Publication Prize’.

I Never Knew That!

Favourite...

Book: A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin Song: The Greatest by Kenny Rogers

Film: The Prestige

Food: Spicy (Indian, Korean, Thai)

Hobbies: Reading.

As a Child I Wanted To Be: A Novelist.

Dr Abhishek Srivastav - Teaching Fellow in Banking and Finance