The College of Accounting is committed to research, both for its own value and its impact on teaching. Because of the importance attached to research and scholarship, members of academic staff are expected to engage in research and research activities. It is also the College’s general policy to encourage the publication of research results in the form of articles in scholarly journals and in terms of presentation of papers of scholarly merit at appropriate conferences. In order to achieve these objectives, meaningful support systems have been established such as regular Collegeal seminars, a working paper series, and facilities and financial support are provided for staff undertaking formal research for higher degrees.

Research in the College is carried out in five broad areas, namely Auditing, Financial Accounting, Financial Management, Management Accounting and Taxation. The research effort is conducted on three general levels: directly usable research, the results of which are translatable into professional practice; applied research of a more general nature; and pure research on the broader frontiers of the discipline.

This research is carried out by staff and postgraduate students.

• Publications 
• Behavioural Finance and Accounting (BFA) 
• Accounting Education Research and Scholarship 

Academic Forum

Aim

To enhance the research culture of the College and the professional and academic development of the academic staff.

Our academic fora are an opportunity for the College to share our research and practical experiences with our colleagues within the College, the University and other academic institutions within the Western Cape, and to keep up to date with the developments in the profession. These sessions are designed to be constructive and affirming and are part of the Colleges internal quality assurance procedures in respect of research findings that are to be presented for public scrutiny.

In the main the sessions are arranged for:

• academic staff wishing to test run their papers prior to presentation at a conference
• feedback from academic staff who have attended a conference, workshop or seminar
• visiting academics or professionals who wish to share their expertise
• academics wishing to present their research proposals or their research findings.
• any topics of general research interest
• any topics of professional interest particularly those that assist with the continuing professional development of the Accounting profession

College Policy

• In order to assist academic staff in their research endeavours the following categories of staff are required to present an academic forum session:
• academic trainees during their year of academic traineeship
• academic staff members who are in receipt of University funding to present a paper at a conference.

Format

The sessions are presented from 12:50 - 13:50 to accommodate the teaching timetable with a light lunch and refreshments available from 12:30.

Wherever possible the presentations take place in the Postgraduate Seminar Room, Room 6.14 of the Robert Leslie Commerce Building Upper Campus UCT. This room offers the following facilities, seating around tables that accommodate two to three people which may be arranged in classroom style or in a square, a whiteboard and a dataprojector. Additional facilities are available on request from the programme administrator Liza Smith (liza.smith@uct.ac.za Tel: 021 650 2257)

For record purposes a register of attendance is circulated at each session

PhD Students

We accept PhD students only on the basis of their suggested projects.  For non South African students please note the residency requirement, which is for a  (Minimum of six months, possibly longer)  Generally, it is the College’s policy only to accept very few PhD students.  We found that most of our students need a significant amount of supervision which simply forces us to strongly limit the students which we take on.

Each application will be reviewed by a committee.  In that the application we expect a detailed document proposing a research question, the general methodology etc.If this document is approved by the College, this will be submitted to the higher degrees committee and subsequently to the doctoral board for approval.  Only at this stage will a student be admitted and assigned a supervisor. 

How to Arrange a Session

If you have a session that you wish to present please liaise with the programme administrator who will assist you in selecting a suitable date. All academic forum sessions are entered onto the Faculty administrative calendar and invitations are circulated via email to all academic staff within the faculty and subscribers to the mailing list. You are welcome to invite anyone who may be interested to attend your session. Where applicable, an individuals research supervisors are encouraged to attend.

Academic Forum Presentations

To be scheduled.