International Specialist Appointed To OUBS Chair

His research interests include accounting harmonisation, the regulation of financial information for international capital markets, and differential reporting. He is currently researching the workings of the International Accounting Standards Board.

He has chaired a UN working party on the accounting needs of developing countries and economies in transition, and was co-editor of the European Accounting Review. He is currently editor of Accounting in Europe and he has written extensively in the field of international financial reporting.

A second edition of his textbook International Accounting (edited with Axel Haller and Bernard Raffournier) was published last year by Thomson Learning.

Prof Roland Kaye, Dean of the Open University Business School, welcomed his appointment. He said: “This welcome appointment further strengthens a key research area for the School at a time when accounting and finance issues remain news topics of interest to specialists and the general public alike.”

And Prof Walton said of his appointment: “I think lifelong learning opportunities are vital for people’s personal evolution and I am very pleased to be able to participate in an institution dedicated to this. This is an exciting time in European financial reporting, with the move to International Financial Reporting Standards. I intend that, with colleagues in the Financial Management Centre, we will develop research programmes related to this and hope we can make a real contribution to easing implementation and the move towards a single financial market.”

EDITOR’S NOTES
The Open University Business School (OUBS) is Europe’s leading business school and the major provider of management development programmes delivered by supported distance learning. It is one of an elite group of UK and European business schools to hold both the prestigious EQUIS quality kitemark, awarded by the European Foundation for Management Development (efmd), and AMBA (the Association of MBAs) accreditation for its MBA. The School is ranked fourth in the world for distance learning MBA programmes, according to rankings published by the Financial Times (March 2003).

Currently the OUBS has 30,000 students based in the UK and more than 40 countries. Since its inception in 1983, more than 150,000 managers have studied an OUBS course at Certificate, Diploma or MBA level. The OUBS has also developed a significant research capability based in eight research units, and boasts one of the three largest Alumni Associations for MBA graduates outside the United States.The School is based at the Open University’s Milton Keynes headquarters in Buckinghamshire. Its website can be found at: oubs.open.ac.uk

The School’s Accounting and Finance Research Unit acts as a focal point for several interwoven strands of activity and projects aiming at relevance for decision-making in a finance and accounting context. Its research themes include international finance, centralisation and outsourcing in banking, accounting education and IT, accounting systems, international financial reporting, and electronic commerce and online assurance.

Neil Coaten
Open University Media Relations
01908 652580
07901 515891
n.d.coaten@open.ac.uk