The accounting policy choice research area investigates the inter-relations among the contracts existing between various stakeholders of the firm, the associated economic incentives of the contracting parties, and the consequent accounting choices made by managers to influence the payoffs to the various contracting parties.
Essentially, the program researches corporate governance questions that emanate from the goal incongruence between the principal and the agent in various contracting relations in the firm. Corporate governance is now a salient policy issue for governments, stock exchanges, professional associations in business, and to practicing directors. Its prominence is due to the recent high profile corporate collapses such as Enron and WorldCom in the USA, HIH, OneTel, and Ansett in Australia and Marconi in the UK.
Researchers in the program are currently involved in a number of projects funded by grants from the Australian Research Council and other funding sources.
The legacy Research Centre associated with this Research Strength is the UQ KPMG Centre for Business Forensics.
This Centre is a partnership between business and The University of Queensland Business School to advance the quality of the investigative functions in the ?nancial services sector, the law enforcement sector and deliver genuine outcomes for these sectors. It will also lead research into areas critical in developing a theoretically coherent and conceptually sound understanding of the issues that drive the demand for the skills and competencies of law enforcement professionals, forensic accountants, and other related professionals. The Centre provides a focus and identity to a group of staff that are currently researching in forensic accounting, auditing, taxation law, the law of evidence, firm valuation, the economics of crime, and electronic commerce.
