BAFA-NAG Conference 2023

British Accounting and Finance Association Northern Area Group Annual Conference

Join the British Accounting and Finance Association (BAFA) Northern Area Group (NAG) Annual Conference, on the role of accounting and finance in achieving sustainability.

Dates: 4-5 September 2023

Place: Management School

Cost: BAFA membership required and varying fees for academics, practitioners and PhD students (find out more)

Accommodation: Special rates available (find out more)

Important Dates:

  • Deadline for submission: 15 June 2023 (find out more)
  • Notification of acceptance: 10 July 2023
  • Registration deadline: 10 August 2023 (register now)

 

The role of accounting and finance in achieving sustainability

Hosted by the University of Liverpool Management School’s Accounting and Finance Subject Group, this year’s BAFA-NAG conference will focus on the significant role of accounting and finance in promoting business sustainability.

The two-day conference provides a discussion forum for leading scholars and professional experts, on the opportunities and challenges organisations face in measuring their social and environmental impact.

During the conference you will have the opportunity to attend expert talks by internationally recognised specialists, and an editorial workshop on tips and advice for publishing academic research in accounting and finance.

You will also be able to ask questions, network and explore future research collaborations.

Keynote speakers

For this year’s BAFA-NAG conference we will be joined by two specialist keynote speakers:

Professor Kerstin Lopatta, Vice Chair, EFRAG Sustainability Reporting Board, and financial accounting auditing and sustainability professor, University of Hamburg.

As a widely recognised and respected expert, Kirsten will share her knowledge and innovative ideas in the field of sustainability reporting.

Jeremy Nicholls SDG Impact Standards Assurance Framework Lead, United Nations Development Program, and Capitals Coalition Ambassador.

With extensive experience and significant contributions to financial accounting under his belt, former director and co-founder of Social Value International will deliver a thought-provoking and insightful talk on: "Financial Accounting - Why does the purpose of accounting need to change?".

Editorial workshop

The conference will include an editorial workshop on publishing academic research in accounting and finance by esteemed Professor Edward Lee, from the Alliance Manchester Business School.

During the workshop, “Experiences and challenges of publishing accounting and finance research”, Edward will share his experience and insights on the challenges related to publishing academic research.

The event will also provide an opportunity to discuss issues and perspectives on the editorial and review processes within high-quality international academic journals.

Edward is a Joint Editor-in-Chief of Accounting and Business Research, and holds editorial positions or board membership in several other academic journals, including those affiliated with the American Accounting Association, the BAFA and  the European Accounting Association.

This workshop will be particularly beneficial if you are an early career researcher or PhD student looking to publish your work in world-class accounting and finance academic journals.

DAY 1 - Schedule

Timetable
TimeRoomSession/Speaker
08:15 - 08:45

Seminar room 5

First floor

Registration and refreshments
08:45 – 09:00

Seminar room 5

First floor

Opening remarks
09:00 – 10:40

Seminar room 5

First floor

Session 1: Accounting and Fraud Detection

  • Paper Presentation 1-4
10:40 – 11:00 

Atrium

Ground floor 

Tea/coffee break
11:00 – 12:40 

Seminar room 5

First floor

Session 2: Asset Pricing and Market Reactions

  • Paper Presentation 5-8
12:40 – 13:40 

Atrium

Ground floor 

Lunch and networking
13:40 – 15:10

Seminar room 5

First floor

Workshop

  • Professor Edward Lee, University of Manchester
15:10 – 15:30

Atrium

Ground floor

Tea/coffee break
15:30 – 17:10

Seminar room 5

First floor

Session 3: Corporate Governance and ESG

  • Paper Presentation 9-12

18:30 - 22:00 - Gala dinner 

The conference will contue in the evening with a gala dinner at the Pullman Hotel (King's Dock, Port of Liverpool, Liverpool L3 4FP):

  • 18:30 Welcome drinks reception
  • 19:00 Keynote speaker: 
    • "Financial Accounting - Why does the purpose of accounting need to change?" by Jeremy Nicholls, United Nations Development Programme 
Session 1: Accounting and Fraud Detection

09:00 - 10:40, Seminar room 5 (first floor)

Chair: Steven Chen (s.x.chen@liverpool.ac.uk)

1. Niklas Graumann - Accounting employees’ geographic dispersion and financial restatements

  • Discussant: Yan Dong

2. Yan Dong - A Predictive Perspective: Leveraging MD&A Text Information to Detect Accounting Fraud in China

  • Discussant: Isaac Oliveira

3. Jannine Poletti-Hughes - Women in power with power: The influence of meaningful board representation on default risk

  • Discussant: Niklas Graumann

4. Dekun Liu - Will the second-generation participate in the management of family businesses enhance ESG disclosure quality? - evidence from China

  • Discussant: Jannine Poletti-Hughes
Session 2: Asset Pricing and Market Reactions

11:00 - 12:40, Seminar room 5 (first floor)

Chair: Yung Chiang Yang (Y.C.Yang@liverpool.ac.uk)

5. Ruixin Fan - Do green bonds affect stock returns and corporate environmental performance? Evidence from China

  • Discussant: You Zhou

6. Mahdi Mousavi - Carbon Risk and Cost of Debt: The Effect of Paris Agreement

  • Discussant: Xiaoxia Ye

7. You Zhou - Do good guys outperform? An analysis of ESG, mutual fund performance, and fund flows

  • Discussant: Mahdi Mousavi

8. Javed Bin Kamal - Is Carbon a new portfolio diversifier? Examining the relationship between global carbon pricing, sustainable and conventional assets

  • Discussant: Ruixin Fan
Session 3: Corporate Governance and ESG

15:30 - 17:40, Seminar room 5 (first floor)

Chair: Sushil Sainani (sainani@liverpool.ac.uk)

9. Isaac Oliveira - Investigating the Moderating Role of Corporate Governance and Finance Characteristics in Pay-for-Performance Sensitivity: Evidence from an emerging country

  • Discussant: Jianyi Zhang

10. Jianyi Zhang - Cultural distance, corporate governance, and cross-border merger and acquisition performance of Chinese listed firms

  • Discussant: Elisabeth Dedman

11. Min Zhu - A Matter of Reputation? Corporate ESG Risks and Risk-taking

  • Discussant: Khine Kyaw

12. Khine Kyaw - Corporate ESG reputational risk from media coverage of CSI and default risk: Firm-level evidence from China

  • Discussant: Min Zhu

DAY 2 - Schedule

Timetable
TimeRoomSession/Speaker
09:00 – 10:40

Seminar room 5

First floor

Session 4: Risk Management, Supply Chain and Diverse Corporate Topics

  • Paper Presentation 13-16
10:40 – 11:00 

Breakout space

Second floor

Tea/coffee break
11:00 – 12:40 

Seminar room 5

First floor

Session 5: Environmental Commitments and Impact

  • Paper Presentation 17-20
12:40 – 13:40 

Breakout space

Second floor

Lunch and networking
13:40 – 14:40

Seminar room 5

First floor

Keynote speaker

  • Professor Kerstin Lopatta, University of Hamburg
14:40 – 15:00

Breakout space

Second floor

Tea/coffee break
15:00 – 16:15

Seminar room 5

First floor

Session 6: Climate Change and Environmental Risks

  • Paper Presentation 21-24
16:15 – 16:30

Seminar room 5

First floor

Prize giving, closing remarks and future announcements 
Session 4: Risk Management, Supply Chain and Diverse Corporate Topics

09:00 - 10:40, Seminar room 5 (first floor)

Chair: Yang Zhao (Yang.Zhao3@liverpool.ac.uk)

13. Rúben Belchior - Does the stock market discipline the Supply Chain reliability externality?

  • Discussant: Niklas Graumann

14. Niklas Graumann - Emerging strategic issues and novel skills acquisition: A learning-by-hiring perspective

  • Discussant: Rúben Belchior

15. Sanjukta Brahma - Corporate ESG policies and firm risk-taking: The role of CEO power and CEO gender

  • Discussant:  Dekun Liu

16. Chris Kelsall - Greenwashing: a framework to position and evaluate a firm’s CSR reporting

  • Discussant: Sanjukta Brahma
Session 5: Environmental Commitments and Impact

11:00 - 12:40, Seminar room 5 (first floor)

Chair: Jannine Poletti Hughes (jpoletti@liverpool.ac.uk)

17. Martina Barbaglia - An investigation of the interplay between leverage and net-zero commitment

  • Discussant: Sheng Zhao

18. Sheng Zhao - Does declining air pollution levels always signal higher premium for housing market?

  • Discussant: Martina Barbaglia

19. Elisabeth Dedman - The Association Between CEO Compensation and Demographic Diversity on the Board of Directors and the Remuneration Committee: UK evidence

  • Discussant: Steven Chen

20. Xiaoxia Ye - Voluntary Disclosures and Climate Change Uncertainty: Evidence from the Corporate Credit Market

  • Discussant: Chardin Wese Simen
Session 6: Climate Change and Environmental Risks

15:00 - 16:15, Seminar room 5 (first floor)

Chair: Xiaoxia Ye (X.Ye@exeter.ac.uk)

21. Shimeng Shi - An Anatomy of California Carbon Allowance Futures

  • Discussant: Eilnaz Kashefi Pour

22. Eilnaz Kashefi Pour - Does climate change risk influence the performance of newly listed firms?

  • Discussant: Chengruizhi Ma

23. Chengruizhi Ma - Carbon Disclosure, Climate Governance and Audit Fee: Chinese Evidence

  • Discussant: Millicent Chang

24. Millicent Chang - Extreme Heat Exposure, Heat Related Transition Risk and Firm Performance- Evidence from Firm Factories Location

  • Discussant: Sardar Ahmad

Present your research at our conference

If you are studying the role of accounting and finance in promoting business sustainability, we encourage you to submit your work to be considered for presentation at our conference.

Topics of interest

We welcome papers on topics including, but not limited to:

  • Environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting and disclosure requirements: challenges and opportunities for firms and investors
  • The impact of ESG criteria on corporate financial performance and investment returns
  • The role of shareholder activism in promoting ESG practices among corporations
  • Sustainable finance and its implications for investment strategies
  • The influence of ESG factors on credit ratings and bond pricing
  • Gender diversity and its impact on corporate financial performance and investment returns
  • ESG risks and opportunities in emerging markets
  • The role of ESG in private equity and venture capital investment decisions
  • Evaluating the financial risks and opportunities of climate change mitigation and adaptation
  • The role of sustainable finance in supporting the transition to a low-carbon economy

For information regarding paper submission and the conference programme, please contact: Professor Charlie Cai.

Submission Guidelines

For your research to be considered for presentation, you need to complete your submission by Thursday 15 June 2023, with accepted formats including:

  • Extended abstract
  • Early working drafts
  • Fully developed papers

Please, submit your work via email to Professor Charlie Cai to the address: x.cai7@liverpool.ac.uk.

Selection process and feedback

Papers will be selected via a single-blind review process, undertaken by the conference committee.

To ensure that all accepted papers receive individual feedback, we will be assigning a discussant to each paper.

We believe feedback is an essential component of the conference experience, and we are committed to providing all authors with valuable insights that will help them advance their research.

You will be informed of the outcome of your application on Monday 10 July 2023.

Best paper awards

One of the highlights of the conference will be the award of the Best Paper Prize and its runner-up, which will be announced during the conference dinner at the Pullman Hotel Liverpool on Monday 4 September 2023.

The Best Paper Award is a recognition of the highest-quality research presented at the conference.

Our committee will carefully evaluate all papers based on criteria such as innovation, contribution to the field, and methodological rigor, among others.

The runner-up will also be recognised for their exceptional work.

Registration

If yiur would like to attend our conference, you must register before Thursday 10 August 2023.

To attend the conference, you need to be a registered BAFA member, which requires the payment of and annual fee of £30 for regular membership, or £15 for PhD students and retired academics.

Please, click here to register as a member.

Conference registration fees

  • Academic members and practitioners: £210
  • PhD students: £150

The above fees cover:

  • Conference registration
  • Catering for the two days and the conference dinner

Registration for UoL staff and students 

I you are a University of Liverpool (UoL) member of staff or student, you must submit your budget code as part of the questionnaire that has to be completed during the booking process. By doing so, funds will be transferred directly from your conference budget to us. 

Special accommodation rates

The Liverpool Novotel Paddington Village hotel is offering a fantastic discount for delegates coming to our conference, with an exclusive B&B rate of £85 per night (only available for bookings made before 4 August 2023).

This is a brand new 4-star hotel conveniently located near the University of Liverpool, that offers stylishly finished and fully equipped rooms, and stunning views of our vibrant city.

To take advantage of this special offer, please mention BAFA when making your booking.

To make a reservation, please contact the Liverpool Novotel Paddington Village directly:

  • Email hb737-re@accor.com
  • Or call +44 151 245 6700 (09:00-17:00 Monday to Friday) and select option 2 for meetings and events

Host City

The BAFA-NAG Annual Conference will be held in the historic city of Liverpool.

Host to the Eurovision Song Contest 2023, our city is well known for its art, music, sport and culture, and is home to more galleries and museums than any other UK city apart from London.

The iconic Royal Liver Building, The Maritime Museum, Royal Albert Dock, and Liverpool Cathedral are just some of the attractions.

More detailed information about Liverpool is available on the Visit Liverpool Website.

Organising committee chairs

Our conference organising committee consists of the following esteemed academics:

Professor Charlie Cai, University of Liverpool Management School

Professor Jia Liu, University of Portsmouth 

Professor Chardin Wese, University of Liverpool Management School 

Dr Sardar Ahmad, University of Liverpool Management School

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